DEMI TITAN?
by ZenithFourDemigods
Summary: Sending eight powerful demigods on a quest that will save the world is highly dangerous, right? But at the moment, risks are everything. I am hopeless at summaries, but trust me, the book's way better than it sounds!
1. Chapter 1

Lyra's POV

Hi. My name is Lyra Jett, an ordinary fourteen year old with ADHD and  
>dyslexia.<br>Fine, not that ordinary.  
>I have straight chocolate brown hair that falls a little past my<br>shoulders (but it's always tied up) and blue eyes that my friends said  
>looked like they sparked when I'm angry. I have an impish look to my<br>features I guess and I'm a little short for my age, but only by an  
>inch! I like wearing casual clothes and converse sneakers. My<br>personality is built on sarcasm and I am VERY random.

Anyway, enough about me. Let's go back to where it all started. My  
>mom. My mom was alright I guess, pretty and blonde. I look nothing<br>like her at all. Sometimes, I even wonder if I'm adopted. You see, my  
>mom's the famous T.V actress, Sabrina Jett. She acts in the T.V<br>series, Dark Secrets, and the movie 'When I Go To Heaven'.  
>Because she is so famous, we are always stalked by paparazzi. And even<br>though I'm not the one acting in billion dollar movies, I'm still a  
>hot topic for kid's magazines.<br>My mom's nice when she wants to be, but she's a little closed up, in  
>her own protective bubble. We stay out of eachother's private lives. I<br>don't ask why my mom's boyfriends sometimes stay overnight, and she  
>doesn't worry if I stay out of the house for the rest of the week.<br>Which is a little annoying, but I get used to it.

One day, I asked my mom about Dad.  
>She went all teary eyed and started shouting at me about bringing up<br>the subject and saying that I never should have been born, and that  
>her life would be so much easier if it wasn't for me. After that, she<br>beat me. I had to go and lock myself in the broom closet until she  
>coolled down. I was scared out of my mind and shivering. Hey, I was<br>only seven.

The only person who knew about what happened to me was Raine Hart.  
>She's been my best friend since… a few years ago. I never told Raine<br>about my mom's assaults, she sort of figured it out herself. Raine was  
>pretty, with long golden hair and gray eyes, like storm clouds. She's<br>average height and very smart. She loves designing things and drawing  
>blueprints of buildings or something. Weird thing is, Raine has<br>dyslexia too, like me, but I also have ADHD remember?  
>Raine and I are practically joined at the hip, and you can never<br>seperate us. We spent heaps of our free time together playing  
>different sports or just talking.<p>

Raine's dad, Robert Hart, is cool I guess. He's an architect, you  
>know. Loves designing too, so I guess that's where Raine gets her<br>inspiration from. Raine doesn't know her mom either, so we're kind of  
>on the same page. The one time Raine did ask about her mom, Mr. Hart<br>just went all silent and dejected for days before he returned to his  
>normal self. It was kind of nerve racking. Raine and I though he was<br>having a mental breakdown.

Anyway, shall I tell you how my life turned upside down? I think so.  
>It started just earlier today actually. Scariest day of my life.<p>

I woke up in the morning to the sunlight streaming in through the open  
>blinds. I drowsily got out of bed and got ready for school. Mom had<br>already left for work and I was sitting at the island, waiting for the  
>school bus to arrive. I couldn't keep still, so I ended up pacing<br>around with my black backpack outside the front yard.  
>Finally, the bus stopped in front of my house. I climbed in and took a<br>seat next to Raine and a friend we had made earlier in the year. Sean  
>McKenzy. He was alright I guess, with curly brown hair and brown eyes,<br>with tanned skin that were scarred in several places. I once asked him  
>where he got them and he just said, "A really big cat fight." so I let<br>it drop. The only bad thing about Sean was that he was always alert  
>and jumpy in class. I had always pressumed that he was looking around<br>for bullies, but now I'm not so sure


	2. Chapter 2

RAINE'S POV

"Hey Lyra," I sighed as my best friend flopped down in the seat next to me.

"Hey guys," she smiled mischievously and high fived Sean and I.

"Maths test today," I reminded her. She face-palmed herself.

"What's wrong?" Sean asked.

"I forgot to study…" Lyra mumbled.

"You forgot or you weren't bothered?" I asked accusingly.

"Guilty," Lyra smiled as I rolled my eyes. This test was gonna be synch. We rode all the way to school in silence, with only small conversations passing between us.

When the bus finally pulled up at the school, we shouldered our back-packs and walked out of the bus, though Sean limped, as he had crutches.

We walked into the school grounds to heaps of juvenile delinquent kids running around and slamming into lockers. We passed through massive crowds and grabbed our science books from our own lockers.

When we walked into the science lab, we quickly walked over to our benches and flopped down in our seats. I saw Lyra tug on her fingerless gloves and cross her legs repeatedly. Her ADHD does not help during class.

Mr. Marelli, our science teacher, walked in front of the class and immediately started droning on and on about electric circuits and electrons and neutrons and a whole bunch of other things that I already knew about. I saw Sean and Lyra get more and more restless. I couldn't read what Mr. Marelli was writing on the board because of my stupid dyslexia so I had to listen even more intently about what he was saying.

"-and then the flow of electrons through the circuit," Mr. Marelli continued, "Is called current."

"Yeah, yeah," Lyra banged her head softly against the bench.

Science was a total bore, and that's something coming from me. Lyra and I trudged to English as Sean went to the office for his meeting with the councillor. Lyra and I dropped into our seats and Lyra immediately rested her head on her book and went to sleep straight away. I listened as our teacher started to explain the use of alliteration and assonance in poems. I didn't end up gaining anything from that lesson because a) I already knew it all, and b) all the boys kept shouting out random and rude comments. I heard the bell ring and kids started to rise from their chairs, heading out to the cafeteria. Lyra jumped up from her book and nearly toppled sideways.

"Come on," I groaned and hauled her out of her chair. Together, we made our way over to the cafeteria, where Sean was already sitting at a table with his blob of potato mash and peas. I made a face at the food as the cafeteria lady dumped it on my tray. Lyra made the same face. We walked back over to Sean, who looked more restless and nervous than usual. Probably about the math test.

"Hey guys," he said as we sat down.

"Hey Sean. How was counselling?" I asked, sticking a fork in my mash potato.

"Same old, same old," he waved his hand, as if trying to get rid of an annoying fly, "How was English?" he asked seriously.

"I dunno, I was asleep," Lyra shrugged.

"It was fine. Why?" I asked, suspicious at why Sean would ask.

"I was just asking," Sean shrugged. I nodded unconvinced. We ate while talking about the math test next period.

"What's the square root of pi again?" Lyra asked.

"1.772453850905516," I said. Lyra looked at me unbelievingly and nodded. Sean looked at me worriedly instead.

"Are you worried about the test?" he asked.

"Nah, I'll be fine," I shrugged, looking at Lyra who said, "Nah, I'll fail."

I shook my head at her.

"Me too," Sean sighed as he finished off the rest of Lyra's discarded peas. The bell signalled that it was time to head to the test, or the end of us, as Lyra liked to put it. Sean had to go to his own maths class next door.

"Good luck!" I told them just before I walked in. Lyra nodded and sat down at a seat in the back. I was about to walk over to the seat next to her, but the supervisor, Mrs. Crawford, told me to sit up the front. Lyra smiled sadly and leaned back in her seat. I felt sad for my friend because Lyra didn't really care about her education. Mrs. Crawford started to hand out the test papers to all of us, and we were asked to start immediately. I flew through it. I was even a little disappointed; I was in the mood for a challenge. I checked and rechecked my test several times.

Suddenly, I heard a crash and growl from outside the door. No other students seemed to notice it, but I heard someone cough and scrape they're chair against the floor. I looked back and saw Lyra leaning forward in her chair and inclining her head towards the door. I saw her fighting a silent battle with herself. Finally, she spoke up.

"Miss, I need to go to the bathroom," she called.

"Make it quick Lyra and no detours," Mrs. Crawford snapped. Lyra nodded and glided towards the door. I had a really bad feeling about this. Lyra walked calmly out the door, her hands swinging by her sides. Just to keep myself busy, I rubbed all the answers off my test paper and did the whole entire test again, without a calculator, and still received the same answers. Time went by and Lyra was still not back yet, and I was starting to get worried. Lyra was like a kid. A big, curious and sometimes mindless kid.

I couldn't wait any longer.

"Miss, um, I finished and I really need to go to the bathroom," I started.

"Hurry," Mrs. Crawford waved me off and I sprinted towards the toilets. I heard no noise from there. I kicked open the door of every cubicle, vainly hoping to find Lyra there. Obviously, she wasn't.

"Lyra!" I called, heading out into the corridor. No response. I was really starting to feel sick in my stomach. I ran from corridor to corridor, but there was no movement anywhere. I started to panic. Oh no, something was not right. Something was not right at all.

Suddenly, I heard a crash coming from the south. The gymnasium. Then a scream. A scream that no doubtedly belonged to Lyra.

"Oh no," I ran as fast as I could towards the crashing and screaming. I burst through the double doors of the gymnasium, only to find Lyra standing there with a metal pole in her hand. She was staring crazily at someone. Or was it something? Whatever it was, it sure scared the crap out of me. It was a woman from the waist up, but from the waist down were two big snake trunks, slithering along the floorboards of the splintered gym floor.

"Lyra? What's going on?" I asked her, still panicking.

"Grab a pole," Lyra said, never taking her eyes off the snake-lady.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Grab the damn pole now!" Lyra shouted as she edged closer to the snake-lady, who cackled delightedly.

"Yessss, two demigodsss! Lucky me!" she hissed and cackled again, her forked tongue flickering in an out of her mouth.

"Demigods?" Lyra and I asked in confusion. The lady cackled again and lunged at Lyra. I took the chance I picked up a metal pole like Lyra said and hurled it at the snake-lady, knocking it to the side. She hissed and started to advance on me, moving quickly, but not quickly enough. Lyra came up behind her and stabbed her in the back. The snake-lady hissed and screamed in pain, before exploding into a shower of yellow dust. Lyra stumbled back and looked at me with an expression I've never seen on her face before. Fear.

"What-what was that?" she whispered in a small voice.

"I don't know," I confessed. I couldn't even concentrate at the moment. My mind was all mixed up with fear and confusion. Just then, students and teachers came running through the gym doors.

"LYRA AND RAINE!" our principal screamed, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

I looked around and saw the damage for the first time, gasping. The floorboards were all cracked and splintered and the bleachers were literally pulled from their stands and torn to shreds of metal and poles. Glass was laying everywhere and posters and banners were ripped to pieces. Lyra and I quickly dropped our poles and tried to look innocent, but failed epically. The gymnasium looked like a war zone. I saw Sean's frantic face through the students. And just as I thought he was about to scream, he dropped his crutches and ran to Lyra and I. How could he run? He had crutches, right?

"Sean-?" Lyra started to say, but Sean had already grabbed us by the shirts and was hauling us over to a broken window, pushing us through it.

"Let's go!" he said, running down the street. I finally knew why Sean was always so jumpy; he was waiting for this. He was waiting for us to be attacked by monsters.

Sean pushed a protesting Lyra and me into the backseat of a cab.

"Long Island Sound-" he told the driver, "-and speed if you want a tip."

With that, the taxi started flying through traffic until we were on a highway.

"What happened?" I demanded. I wanted to know everything.

"Which monster was it?" Sean asked, sighing and closing his eyes.

"A snake-lady," Lyra said.

"They're called dracaena; half-woman, half-snake," Sean corrected us.

"We figured," Lyra mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Where are you taking us?" I asked, suddenly realising the problem.

"To camp," Sean whispered.

"Camp? What camp?" Lyra asked.

"Shhh! Camp Half-Blood, a camp for kids like you," Sean explained.

"Are we crazy or something?" Lyra asked stupidly.

"No, just special," Sean shrugged and I frowned.

"How are we half-blood?" I asked. Sean eyed the taxi driver nervously.

"Half-god, half-human," he muttered.

"Half-god? What the hell? Is this some kind of sick joke you're playing to get me back for swapping your shaving cream for whipped cream?" Lyra asked, looking accusingly at Sean.

"That was you?" Sean asked, disbelieving.

"Yeah, so? Life goes on."

"Never mind. Anyway, half Greek god. You know…" Sean nodded encouragingly.

"Oh like Zeus and Poseidon and Hades and-" Lyra started, but Sean cut her off.

"Don't say their names!" he snapped.

"Okay, sorry. Jeez!" Lyra raised her hands.

"Back to my first point. Why are you taking us?" I asked.

"Because if I don't, you'll be attacked," Sean whispered.

"By snake-people?" Lyra questioned.

"Oh no, that was just the beginning," Sean sighed. Lyra and I looked at each other.

"Turn here!" Sean shouted to the taxi man. He swerved onto a dirt path, and then pulled over.

"This is as far as I go," the driver said.

"Then we'll have to run," Sean jumped out of the cab and stood waiting for us.

"Keep the change," Sean threw a wad of cash in the front window. As soon as Lyra and I were put, the taxi did a U-turn and sped away.

"Dude, you just gave the cabbie fifty bucks," Lyra looked at Sean like he was crazy. At the moment he was.

"We won't be needing it," Sean shrugged.

"Don't you need crutches?" I asked him.

"No, that was just for show," Sean said and pulled down his pants. On normal circumstances, I would have seen legs, but this really wasn't normal. Instead of legs, Sean had goat hooves and shaggy hind-quarters.

"What the hell?" Lyra stared at the legs.

"I'm a satyr, half human half goat," Sean shrugged, and disappeared into the thick underbrush. Lyra looked at me and shrugged her shoulders, then disappeared in the forest after Sean. I had no choice but to follow.


	3. Chapter 3

LYRA'S POV

We stumbled through the forest, tripping over twigs and tree roots. I  
>was tired after a while and stopped walking.<br>"Can we rest a bit?" I panted, my hands on my knees. Raine was the same.  
>"No, we have to go, otherwise mons-" he was cut of because, exactly on<br>cue, we heard growling coming from the trees behind us.  
>"Run!" Sean grabbed me and Raine and we ran through the forest. The<br>growling got louder and I heard padding of big feet crunch over dead  
>leaves. The beast was seriously gaining on us.<br>"Faster!" Sean prodded us.  
>"We're trying," Raine panted.<br>"Try harder!" he raced up another hill. I heard another roar from  
>behind me.<br>"Run!" Sean grabbed us and pulled us forward. Suddenly, he dropped to  
>the ground unsuspectingly.<br>"We have to keep moving!" Raine said.  
>"We can't just leave him here!" I cried.<br>"Then we have to carry him."  
>"Oh goody," I murmured as we slung Sean's arms over our shoulders.<br>Suddenly, I saw four massive dogs approaching us.  
>"Holy mother of-" I started to say, but Raine started to run, dragging<br>Sean and I with her.  
>"We must fight them!" I said.<br>"Are you kidding?" she exclaimed.  
>"You know karate?" I asked.<br>"No!"  
>"Me neither!" and I dropped Sean. I stood ready for the big, gruesome<br>dogs. Raine sighed and was next to me.  
>"You'll always be my best friend," she said.<br>"No time for goodbye's, hun, and besides, we're not gonna die. Just…  
>I dunno," I muttered. The first dog sprang at me.<br>"Hiya!" I cried and kicked the dog in the mouth. One of its fangs  
>broke off and dropped to the ground, right in front of the ugly. I<br>breathed deeply and charged for the dog. It pressumed I was going to  
>attack its face, so it stood higher, but as I got closer, I ducked and<br>grabbed the tooth, rolling under the big black dog. I got up knealing  
>and stabbed the dog in its belly. He howled in pain and disintegrated<br>on the spot, turning into shadow. I still held the six inch bloody  
>fang in my hand. Deja vu swept over me. I heard the hissing voice of<br>that snake-lady, the one that nearly scared me to death. I would never  
>tell Raine this, but there were two snake-women, not just one. I<br>killed the first one, but the second one was smarter. I was lucky  
>Raine came in, otherwise I'd probably already be dead.<p>

Anyway, I saw Raine fighting another dog with a sharp branch. She  
>yelled and stabbed it in the side, the dog yellped as it also turned<br>to shadow. I chucked my tooth like a knife at the third dog. It hit it  
>in the shoulder, but didn't disintegrate it. The dog growled and<br>pounced on top of me, but it suddenly had disappeared. I took in a  
>shaky breath and saw Raine also get pinned to the ground by the fourth<br>gigantic dog. Nobody messes with my friends. Nobody.  
>"HEY UGLY!" I shouted at the dog and hurled a rock at it, which wasn't<br>the smartest thing to do, but at least it wasn't growling on top of  
>Raine anymore. I backed up and my back hit a tree. I was cornered. The<br>dog pounced. I braced myself, but the dog never touched me. A dozen  
>arrows hit the dog in the shoulder. The dog staggered before turning<br>into shadow.  
>I was breathing heavily as Raine stood up shakily and dusted herself<br>off.  
>"Are you okay?" I asked her, and she nodded. We walked over and went<br>to pick up Sean, but people were already there.  
>"Hey!" I called to them.<br>"It's okay, we're friend," a boy said. He had unruly brown hair and  
>baby blue eyes. His smile was crooked and his features were upturned<br>and mischeavous-looking.  
>"Come on, Sean might get concussion… again!" a girl said picking up<br>Sean.  
>"You… you know him?" Raine took the words out of my mouth.<br>"Yes, he comes to our camp," another boy said.  
>"Camp? Camp Half-Blood?" I asked. They all turned to me.<br>"I-I had a dream about it, and Sean told us," I confessed. The people  
>nodded as if they understood.<br>Let me tell you a little about my dream. First, I was running through  
>a thick green forest, panting and sweating as suddenly, the scene<br>changed. I was standing in a green pasture, I saw kids running around  
>in orange shirts with writing on it, which I couldn't make out because<br>I was dyslexic. There was a centaur there too. He clopped towards me  
>and stared down. He had the body of a white stallion and the torso of<br>a grown man. He had a well trimmed beard and deep dark and intelligent  
>eyes.<br>"Hurry," he whispered urgently in a kind, deep voice.  
>"For what?" I asked in confusion. Suddenly, monsters broke loose. The<br>type I've seen before, like the huge black dogs and those dracanae  
>things. There were also others I couldn't even explain.<br>"That's why," the centaur said and galloped toward the monsters. I  
>looked around and saw that the kids were also running into the battle,<br>but with swords. I stumbled back. Swords? I turned around and  
>suddenly, I saw a big lion-dog pounce on top of me. He smiled and<br>growled in my face, with drool dripping out of his mouth. Suddenly he  
>opened his mouth and lashed at me. That was were I woke up.<br>Anyway, back to reality:

"Hey, Conner, a little help!" a boy said as he lifted Sean over his  
>shoulders.<br>"Coming!" the boy who called himself 'friend' rushed over and heaved  
>Sean up too.<br>"Where are you going?" Raine asked, her grey eyes flashing  
>dangerously. She hated not knowing what was happening.<br>"You mean where are we going. We're off to the Big House," the girl  
>grabbed us and dragged us up a hill with a massive pine tree. We<br>walked through the massive pasture to a big farm house. It was too  
>dark to see what it actually looked like, but it looked threatening at<br>night.  
>"Chiron!" the girl called. What ducked through the door shocked me. It<br>was a centaur! And not just any centaur, it was the centaur from my  
>dream.<br>"You're Chiron?" I asked, staring at him in awe.  
>"Yes child. I believe that I have never seen you before. May I ask<br>what you're names are?" the centaur said, his face looking exactly  
>like in my dream.<br>"I'm Lyra Jett," I mumbled.  
>"And I'm Raine Hart," Raine smiled at the centaur before passing out.<br>I caught her before she could hit the floor.  
>"Umm…" I hauled her back up and placed her arm over my shoulders.<br>"Come in," the centaur stepped out of the doorway. I let the boys take  
>Sean in first while I dragged in Raine. I dropped her on a long couch<br>and I collapsed in another one seater, sleeping immediately to the  
>sound of fire crackling.<p>

When I woke up, the first thing I saw was a pair of green eyes staring  
>at me in concern. It scared the bejeebers out of me and I was about to<br>scream, but the boy covered my mouth with his own hand.  
>"It's fine, you're safe," he said. I nodded slowly and he removed his<br>hand. Just to annoy him, I screamed anyway. He covered my mouth again.  
>I smiled under it. The boy just shook his head and sighed, but removed<br>his hand once more.  
>"What's your name?" he asked.<br>"Lyra Jett. You?"  
>"Jacob Bright, son of Apollo," he said.<br>"Who?" I asked confusedly.  
>"Apollo. You know, the god of music and healing and art and whatever?"<br>he prodded.  
>"Oh, him," I nodded, "He's cool in the myths, I wonder if it runs in<br>the family...?"  
>"Yeah it does, but all my siblings are… proud and arrogant," he<br>sighed. I looked at him weirdly.  
>"Like they… they're just… I dunno," Jacob shrugged. I raised an<br>eyebrow, but dropped it. I started to get up, flexing out and  
>stretching.<br>"Where's Raine?" I asked Jacob. He turned to the couch, then back to me.  
>"You mean the blondie? Oh, she's awake," he jerked his thumb to the<br>door. His bronze curls jumping around.  
>"Let's go then," I said and marched out the door. What I saw took my<br>breath away. There was green everywhere, the grass was nearly like  
>neon lights and the forest was spluttered with different shades of<br>earthen green. There were buildings scattered around too. Some looked  
>regular, but others were odd, like there was one made out of marble<br>and stone, like… like an Ancient Greek temple. There was a massive  
>stable to my right and a big arena to my left used for God- sorry-<br>gods know what. There were strawberry patches and other orchads  
>somewhere around and behind the arena. And I could see a lake and<br>beach and what looked like a sweatshop near the fields.  
>"You like the view?" I heard Jacob say from next to me. All I could do<br>was nod. Jacob's smile crept along his face.  
>"Come on, let's go find the blondie," he said.<br>"Her name's Raine, and she's not blonde," I told him.  
>"Three quarter blondie," he suggested. I raised an eyebrow.<br>"Half?"  
>"No."<br>"Oh I know, it's artificial!" he cried. I rolled my eyes and smacked  
>his arm.<br>"Race ya!" I shouted as I ran down the hill. I was not the fastest  
>person, but I was good at dodging through people. I collapsed in front<br>of the weird collection of buildings. Jacob was panting next to me.  
>"I win," I panted<br>"You cheated," he choked back.  
>"I did not!"<br>"Did too!"  
>"Did not!"<br>"Did!"  
>"Didn't!"<br>"Yes."  
>"No."<br>"Yes."  
>"… Apple," I said.<br>"Banana!"  
>"Kiwifruit!"<br>"Strawberry!"  
>"Peach!"<br>"Rockmelon!"  
>"Mango!"<br>"Kumquat!"  
>"What the hell?" I looked at him.<br>"What? It's a real fruit!" he raised his hands.  
>"I know, but… nevermind," I sighed.<br>"I win!" he smiled. I poked my tongue out at him. We had just met, but  
>still, that's how friendship starts.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

RAINE'S POV

When I woke up, a group of people were crowded around me.  
>"Where am I?" I croaked.<br>"Camp Half-Blood," a boy said stupidly. I rolled my eyes.  
>"Where in this camp?"<br>"The Big House," a girl with sea green eyes corrected the boy. I  
>nodded, shakily standing up. I stretched and looked around, but there<br>were too many people. I wobbled to the door.  
>"Who are you people?" I asked them.<br>"I'm Imeldes Elthea, but everyone calls me Mell, I'm daughter of Nyx,"  
>a tan girl with really dark eyes and black as night hair smiled.<br>"I am Sarina Diamond, daughter of Poseidon," the sea-green eyed and  
>olive skin girl said.<br>"Percy Jackson," the boy held out his hand, "son of Poseidon." I shook  
>it. Siblings? Well, they did sort of look the same.<br>"Annabeth Chase, daughter if Athena," a girl said proudly. She had  
>blonde hair, and surprisingly, the same gray eyes as me.<br>"Travis and-" a boy started.  
>"Conner Stoll," another boy finished.<br>"Sons of Hermes," they said together. They looked exactly the same,  
>only height would help you spot the difference. They were both impish<br>looking, with brown hair and baby blue eyes. A little like-  
>"Where's Lyra?" I asked, shocked that I had forgotten.<br>"She's fine, just sleeping," Percy pointed to a one-seater where a boy  
>was literally working magic on Lyra. Her small cuts from the battle<br>were disappearing and Lyra sighed in her sleep. Her chocolate brown  
>hair sprawled over the arm chair.<br>"She can't possibly be comfortable, and who's the boy?" I asked  
>suspiciously.<br>"That's Jacob Bright, son of Apollo. Probably the sweetest and kindest  
>and least proud person I have ever met," Annabeth said. I raised an<br>eyebrow at her, but she just laughed and kissed Percy on the cheek.  
>Percy smiled and laced his fingers through hers. Together, the happy<br>couple walked out of the room.  
>"Don't even ask where they're going because you probably wouldn't want<br>to know," Sarina shuddered. I laughed at her, and she smiled. I heard  
>Lyra groan in her couch.<br>"Lyra's usually a light sleeper. Why isn't she waking up?" I asked  
>Travis, or was it Conner?<br>"Jake had to perform a sleeping charm on her so that she doesn't feel  
>any pain," Travis-Conner said.<br>"Can we leave?" I asked them, peeking back over at Lyra who looked  
>really agitated.<br>"Yes, let's," Sarina strode out of the room. Mell and I scurried after  
>her followed by Travis and Conner Stoll.<p>

They gave me a tour around the camp and showed me the arena. It was  
>awesome! People were clashing with eachother in battle. There was<br>clanging of metal and shouting and laughing.  
>"This is where most of us do our training," Sarina said.<br>"Cool!" I exclaimed.  
>"Most definately, young madem," Travis-Conner said mockingly.<br>"Okay, back up. Who's who?" I asked them.  
>"I'm Chuck."<br>"I'm Larry!"  
>"What?" I asked them.<br>"That's Conner," Sarina pointed to the shorter boy, who winked at her.  
>Sarina and Mell just rolled their eyes.<br>"And that's Travis."  
>"Okay," I breathed.<br>"Shall we move on?" Travis and Conner asked, literally skipping away.  
>I frowned at their weirdness.<br>"Are they-"  
>"All the time," Mell sighed, "Come on, before we lose them!"<br>We then moved on tothe strawberry fields, where Travis smiled crazily  
>and walked up to a girl, who was crouchin over a sapling and staring<br>at it intently. They had a quick conversation, in which the girl must  
>of said something mean and Travis' face fell. The girl must have<br>realised what she said and comforted him. Travis smiled, said bye and  
>walked back to us, looking like a crazy man.<br>"That was Katie Gardner. Travis and her supposedly hate eachother, but  
>I think they're crushing, but they're totally oblivious!" Sarina<br>smiled knowingly.  
>I saw Conner look at Travis weirdly and together, they both ran<br>towards what Sarina said were the cabins.  
>We ran to the boys, who were hiding behind a cabin and eavesdropping<br>on someone's conversation. I snuck a peek and saw that it was Lyra and  
>that Jacob kid!<br>"Apple!" Lyra said. Leave it to her to start a fruit-fight.  
>"Banana!" Jacob retorted.<br>"Kiwifruit!"  
>"Strawberry!"<br>"Peach!"  
>"Rockmelon!"<br>"Mango!"  
>"Kumquat!" Jacob finished. Lyra gave him a weird look.<br>"What the hell?" she asked.  
>"What? It's a real fruit!" Jacob cried.<br>"I know, but… nevermind," Lyra sighed.  
>"I win!" Jacob smiled happily. Lyra just stuck out her tongue, hit his<br>arm playfully and laughed. She already made a friend! But I suppose I  
>did too. We decided to talk to Lyra then.<br>"Hey Lyra!" I called running up to her. She spun around wildly and  
>smiled crazily when she saw me. She looked like a kid on Christmas.<br>"Raine!" she called and tackled me into a killer hug, "You're not dead!"  
>"Of course not!" I laughed.<br>"I know, I was just teasing," Lyra said slyly.  
>"Hello Lyra," Sarina said from behind me.<br>"Oh hello!" Lyra smiled again and stuck out her hand, "Who are you?"  
>"I'm Sarina. And this is Mell, Travis and Conner," Sarina shook Lyra's<br>hand and gestured to the others, who also shook her hand.  
>"I'm a daughter of Nyx," Mell said.<br>"Sons of Hermes!" the boys exclaimed.  
>"Oh, Raine, this is Jacob Bright-" Lyra started.<br>"Yeah, son of Apollo," I smiled.  
>"You know eachother?" she asked.<br>"No," we both said. Lyra just shrugged.  
>"Sons of Hermes huh? I heard that they're the most awesome pranksters<br>in the camp!" Lyra said excitedly. Typical Lyra, she always loved  
>pulling practical jokes on people.<br>"We are," the boys said smiling evilly.  
>"What are your most recents?" Lyra asked.<br>"Oh, well, we actually had quite a few…" Travis and Conner started  
>going on and on about some kind of prank they did to the Ares cabin.<br>Lyra looked thrilled, and so did the boys. They started talking about  
>all the other pranks they could pull. I turned back to Sarina, Mell<br>and Jacob.  
>"So…" I said.<br>"You want to start your training?" Sarina asked seriously.  
>"Training?" I asked confused. I HATE it when I don't know what to do.<br>"Yeah, sword practice, archery, stuff like that," Mell shrugged, "Hey  
>look! Nico!"<br>Mell ran off to a boy in front of a big scary black cabin and jabbed  
>him in the side. The boy smiled and together, Mell and Nico started to<br>walk to the arena.  
>"Hey, sorry guys, I'm off to see Chiron now, so if you'll excuse me.<br>See you Lyra!" he called.  
>"Later Jake!" Lyra waved, and then went back to talking with Travis<br>and Conner.  
>"Let's go choose a weapon," Sarina said brightly, "and let's grab your<br>friend."  
>Sarina bounded over to the twins and Lyra.<br>"Hey, Lyra, it's time to choose your weapon," Sarina told her.  
>"But-" Lyra looked back over at the boys. Both looked as disappointed<br>as Lyra.  
>"Let's go," I told her. Somehow, I don't trust those three together.<br>"See you boys," Lyra smiled wickedly, and the twins winked.  
>"Until we meet again!" they called, running in the opposite direction.<br>Lyra sighed and looked at us.  
>"What were you planning?" Sarina asked her curiously. Lyra smiled<br>evilly, but didn't say anything. Oh gods, everyone better watch their  
>back if they know what's good for them. Together, the three of us<br>careened up a hill to what looked like a massive tool shed.  
>"I thought we were weapon-choosing?" I asked confusedly as Sarina<br>opened the shed. Inside were shelves, all covered in various weapons  
>and shields.<br>"Rule number one, never jump to conclusions," Lyra muttered to  
>herself. I rolled my eyes and stared around the shed in awe.<br>"Let's get started!" Sarina rubbed her hands together and dragged out  
>a long sword. She gave it to Lyra, but the sword made her look like a<br>five year old, so she handed it to me. I nearly dropped it because it  
>was so heavy. I placed it back on the bench. Sarina laughed and handed<br>me a knife. It felt wrong in my hands and very off balanced, so I  
>passed it on to Lyra who literally threw it to the other side of the<br>room. She giggled a bit. She was a bit of a random, weirdo person  
>sometimes.<br>We tried numerous amounts of swords, spears, knives and even axes, but  
>nothing seemed to fit either of us. We gave up after a while.<br>"Seems like nothing fits you two," Sarina sighed.  
>"What about you? What's you're weapon?" Lyra asked. Sarina pulled out<br>her necklace. It was circular, with a wave design on it.  
>"Remember rule one," I heard Lyra mutter to herself again. Sarina<br>pressed the centre of her charm and suddenly there was a sword in her  
>hand. Lyra nodded, as if expecting it.<br>"How-?" I started.  
>"It's a magic item, not so rare anymore, now that we have the Hecate<br>children," Sarina shrugged.  
>"Who's Hecate?" Lyra asked.<br>"The goddess of magic," Sarina answered.  
>"Makes sense," I said. Suddenly, Mell came busting through the door.<br>"Hey guys," she panted and sat down next to Lyra.  
>"Hey, Mell," Lyra nuckle-tapped her.<br>"You guys don't look like you've made much progress," Mell observed.  
>"That's because we haven't," I shrugged. Lyra compressed a smile.<br>"Maybe I can help," Mell stood up and walked over to the benches,  
>scanning through them. She picked up a few, but put them down once<br>more. Finally, she turned to me, in her hand was a curved bronze blade  
>with a black leather handle. She threw it to me, which was highly<br>dangerous, but luckily I caught it. It felt light in my hands and when  
>I swung, it felt easier to move it.<br>"How does it feel?" Mell asked.  
>"Perfect!" I cried, hugging her. She seemed taken aback, but smiled. I<br>sheathed my sword in a leather sheath.  
>"How'd ya do it?" I asked.<br>"My brother told me a thing or two about weapons," Mell shrugged.  
>"Nico?" I asked suspiciously, remembering the name.<br>"No, he's a friend," Mell said, "my brother's name is Dean."  
>"Oh."<br>"What about me?" Lyra asked suddenly.  
>"I didn't seem to find anything that would fit you," Mell sighed in<br>disbelief.  
>"Oh," Lyra grumbled.<br>"I'm sure there's something. Let's keep looking," Sarina suggested,  
>but Lyra just shook her head.<br>"It's probably like this for a reason," she shrugged, standing up and  
>dusting herself off.<br>"Lyra-" I began.  
>"Don't you start to give me one of your lectures," she snapped, but<br>seemed to calm down, "It doesn't matter. Maybe I can just try archery.  
>At least they have sizes."<br>"Well, whatever you say. We can go there now actually, Chiron may be  
>able to help," Sarina walked out the door, jumping over discarded<br>weapons.  
>"Okay," we all paraded after her. When we finally got to the archery<br>targets, we saw kids lining up and having goes at archery.  
>"This is what I'm talking about," Mell laughed and grab the bracelet<br>on her wrist, bending it in front of her, which immediately  
>transformed into a bow and and a golden arrow already notched to fire,<br>She ran up to an empty target and she aimed, hitting the bullseye.  
>"Awesome!" Lyra pumped her fist and walked over to a centaur at the<br>other end of the range. It was the same one I last saw before passing  
>out from exhaustion.<br>"Excuse me sir, but may I start practising archery?" Lyra asked sweetly.  
>"Yes child, do you have a bow?" the centaur asked in a deep voice.<br>"No. You see, I could not find a weapon that felt right for me, so I  
>decided to come here," Lyra explained.<br>The centaur nodded in understanding.  
>"Try this," the centaur held out a small bow. It was still a little<br>big for Lyra, but probably the closest she'll get.  
>"Thank you Chiron!" Lyra exclaimed and walked over to where Sarina and<br>Mell were waiting.  
>"I suppose you need one too?" Chiron smiled kindly. I nodded as he<br>held out another bow. It rested okay I guess, though it could've  
>gotten lighter. I also marched over to the target next to Lyra.<br>"Okay are you ready?" Mell said. We nodded. I looked through the  
>barrel of my notched arrow.<br>"Fire!" our arrows went flying. Mine hit the grass behind the target  
>and Lyra's hit the grass directly in front of her. We giggled a bit<br>and saw that Mell had hit the target again!  
>"Concentrate!" she demanded. Lyra rolled her eyes.<br>"You must listen to my instructions! Concentrate!" Mell demanded again.  
>"You concentrate," Lyra snapped. Mell's eyes flashed dangerously.<br>"Don't tell me what to do," she hissed and Lyra just shrugged and  
>notched another arrow. I released the breath that I never knew I was<br>holding and copied Lyra. The way Mell's eyes looked when Lyra told her  
>to concentrate was pretty creepy. Lyra let go of her arrow and didn't<br>do half as bad as last time. She actually hit the target!  
>"Wow," I said as I clumsily let go of my arrow. It hit the outer<br>circle of the target, but hey, at least it hit it.  
>"You see? That's what happens when you listen to me," Mell spoke up,<br>"Why aren't you practising Sarina?"  
>"Archery's not my thing," Sarina shrugged and flopped down on the grass.<br>We practised archery until we got bored and made our way over to the  
>dining pavillion, where it was already time for dinner. Mell sat at a<br>table with two other children. One was a guy about seventeen and the  
>other was another boy about ten or twelve. Sarina sat at a table near<br>the end next to Percy and Lyra and I had to sit at the Hermes table  
>with the rest of the kids. There were only two other undetermined<br>children. At least Lyra and I got to sit together. Dinner was brought  
>out by girls that walked out of trees. Literally. They placed meat on<br>our plates along with vegetables and other stuff.  
>Lyra and I were about to dig in when people started to rise out of<br>their seats, an move towards the large brazier in the centre of the  
>pavillion. They started scraping the juiciest piece of meat and the<br>most crunchy vegetables into the fire.  
>"What are they doing?" I asked Lyra.<br>"You expect me to know?" she hissed.  
>"No," I confessed.<br>"Well, you got the brains here, try figure it out!" Lyra said and I  
>nodded. I looked closely at the people scraping food into the flames.<br>They were also muttering something. A blessing maybe? Oh I get it.  
>Sacrificing!<br>"Lyra, we have to sacrifice something to the gods!" I said.  
>"Which one?" she asked.<br>"Probably Hermes, for taking us in and pray that our godly parents,  
>er, say they're our parents," I said.<br>"Oh."  
>We waited for our turn to offer food as kids started to drift back to<br>their tables. I walked in front of the flames.  
>'Er, to Hermes and Mom, whoever you are.' I said in my mind and<br>scraped a piece of lamb into the brazier. What I smelt surprised me. I  
>expected smelling barbeque or something, but instead I smelt things<br>like flowers and freshly baked bread and incense, parchment and fresh  
>paper…? I drifted back to the table where I waited for Lyra, who<br>joined me two seconds later.  
>Again, we were about to dig in, but Chiron banged his hoof against the<br>marble floor, demanding attention. He raised his goblet.  
>"To the gods!" he shouted.<br>"To the gods!" we repeated and, finally, started to scoff down our food.

When dinner was over, it was time for the campfire. The tables had  
>magically disappeared and we were all sitting in groups of friends on<br>the floor. We sang along to camp songs that we learnt and laughed when  
>someone sang a really out-of-tune, way-off-pitch note. I hadn't seen<br>Lyra so happy for years, but of course, her happiness was short lived  
>when it was time for claiming.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello! Heh, sorry about not updating quicker school was harsh. Anywho, Annabeth and Rachel have something to say **

**Rachel: we do?**

**Me: yes!**

**Annabeth: what about?**

**Me: the disclaimer maybe?**

**Rachel: OH! Umm… zenithfourdemigods would like to inform you that they do not own PJO, or me.**

**Annabeth: or me**

**Percy: OR ME!**

**Rachel:…**

**Annabeth:…**

**Percy:…**

**Me: ookay…? Anyway, on to the story! R&R please!**

**Percy: you guys wanna get pizza or something?**

**Rachel: sure!**

**Annabeth: okay!**

**Me: Percy calls it!**

**Percy: Hey!**

**Me: yes?**

**Percy: I don't got no money **

**Annabeth: you're such a seaweed bran**

**(Rachel and me like this)**

**Percy: grrr**

SARINA'S POV

we sat around the campfire singing along to old time favorites and laughing whenever someone sang a wrong note. Percy was hilarious when it came to singing. He would start laughing hysterically halfway through 'There once was a hero named Bob' and start snoring loudly when it came to 'The little centaur'.

Then, it was time for claiming. We would pray once more to the gods about claiming their children.  
>There were four unclaimed children. Lyra Jett, Raine Hart, Bobby Johnson and Grace Harringsworth.<br>Bobby turned out to be a son of Ares, and a bunch of ugly cheers rose from the Ares kids across the fire.  
>Grace ended up being a daughter of Demeter and small cheers came from a bunch of shy, but fierce kids, Katie cheering , it was only Lyra and Raine left. The fire turned a bright blue color like it always does and a silvery image of an olive tree and owl<br>appeared on top of Raine's head."The symbol of Athena," she muttered."You know Greek mythology?" Chiron asked.  
>"Huh? Oh, no. It's just that I know Athena is the goddess of wisdom and that an owl is always portrayed as wise and-" Raine started.<br>"Yeah, yeah, we get it Raine," Lyra smiled an patted Raine on the back. Rainw blushed scarlet and scurried over to the still cheering Athena cabin, with Annabeth, Percy's girlfriend, smiling at the front. We all went silent and waited for Lyra to be claimed."What is this by the way?" she asked after a two minutes of dead  
>silence."It is claiming child," Chiron answered.<br>"Claiming? Last time I checked, I wasn't luggage," Lyra shrugged. A few laughs came from the Hermes and Ares cabin as they saw how serious Lyra was."No, we see that you're not, Lyra. Claiming is when godly parents send a sign to show that you are his or her child," Chiron explained and Lyra were silent for a ten minutes, but still nothing happened.  
>"Isn't it obvious that my godly parent doesn't want me?" Lyra asked frustrated as the flames finally die out because the mood of the campers was so low, there was barely anything fuelling it. I felt sorry for Lyra. She had to spend the rest of her time in the Hermes<br>cabin without her best friend. Or even knowing who her own dad was. That was very annoying for me, not knowing who my father was."Don't think like that Lyra," Chiron said soothingly, "Maybe they have just forgotten.""Forgotten by my own dad? Gee, how wonderful," Lyra said sarcastically and trudged after the rest of the Hermes cabin back to Cabin 11.  
>Travis and Conner looked at her sympathetically and walked next to her, one on each side, both murmuring something.<p>

I exchanged a glance with Percy, then Chiron.  
>"I do not know what happened. Perhaps she must prove herself first?"Chiron said, though it came out as a question. I shrugged. This was not unusual, but I've never seen anyone who had a best friend for ages and they're both half-bloods. Percy and I walked back to the Poseidon cabin in silence. When we opened the door, I was relieved by the smell of salt water and familiarity. I breathed in and stepped inside. I<br>flopped down on the bed opposite to Percy. He eyed me intensely and looked away."What was that?" I asked him suspiciously."What was what?" he looked at me innocently."That look you gave me!" I snapped.  
>"What look?""Percy, you know what I mean," I sighed.<br>"Well," he hesitated, "how's Conner?" he asked.  
>"He's great. Why?" I asked, taken aback.<br>"Well, you seem to spend a lot of time with him and stuff," Percy shrugged."So?" I asked.  
>"So… I was wondering if you two are like… going out," Percy said."What the hell Percy? No way! And even if I was, what's it to you?" I sneered."Well, I am you're only older brother, so technically, I should be<br>worried or something," he said slowly, as if trying to make me understand."You are way to overprotective," I muttered."No, it's just that I didn't, you know, want my younger sister to date already!" Percy said defiantly, "So you're not dating then?"  
>"You are such a seaweed brain, Percy!" I shook my head.<br>"Yeah, I get that a lot," Percy sighed and the subject was dropped as I got ready for bed and drifted into a thankfully dreamless sleep.

LYRA'S POV

I felt like crap. My best friend got claimed and has heaps of siblings, and I'm stuck in the Hermes cabin with no one to talk to. Well, almost no one. Travis, Conner and I started to discuss some pranks and stuff, but my heart wasn't in it, and they could tell.  
>"Um, why don't we call it quits for the day," Travis said."But-" Conner began to say, but Travis elbowed him in the gut, "I mean, oh yeah, I'm a little tired, so I think I'll hit the sack,"<br>Conner corrected himself, yawning and stretching just to back up his statement."Thanks guys," I smiled half-heartedly and moved over to the spare bunk they had given me. I knew I shouldn't be so upset about Raine  
>getting claimed. I mean, sure I was happy for her and all, and that cabins were just for sleeping, but I was just really overwhelmed by all of this Greek mythology crap. I got ready for bed and used the essentials (courtesy of Conner and Travis) given to me. I climbed into the bunk and immediately fell asleep. And for the first time in ages, I didn't dream at all.<p>

Morning came too soon, and it was time for breakfast. The sons and daughters of Hermes rushed around the cabin grabbing clothes and  
>throwing things. I sighed and changed into the orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt that Sarina had given me. My khaki shorts went perfectly with<br>them, and my hair was tied up in a high ponytail. I thought that the orange camp shirt would look weird, but it worked , fall in!" I heard Travis call over the racket. Everyone fell silent as we lined up in single file and marched out the door. We trudged over to the dining pavilion, where breakfast was already being served. I sat at the far end of the Hermes table, away from all the talk. When it was my turn to sacrifice, I pleaded for my dad to claim me,  
>but all I got was the smell of frangipanis and air freshener and other nice things. I slouched back to my seat and started to slowly consume my food. Breakfast seemed to go extra slow as finally, a fat, pudgy man stood up and cleared his throat."Alright you brats, good morning. Now don't expect me to be happy<br>about seeing you," the man said in a lazy and annoyed tone, "Chiron, our activities director, wants me to tell you that this Friday, we have a game of Capture the Flag. Not that I care, but Cabin Three currently holds the laurel."I heard Sarina an Percy cheer and laugh as the pudgy dude said 'Cabin Three'. I smiled a little, but sighed. Sarina had a brother, yet I  
>have no one! Argh! The man said something about cabin inspections and a whole bunch of other stuff. When he finally finished, all the campers shot out of their seats and went to find their friends. Turns<br>out I didn't have to. Raine, Sarina and Mell had found me instead."Hey Lyra. How are you?" Raine asked, and though she meant it to sound careless, it was full of pity and… guilt? Oh, I know, she feels bad that she left me alone."Don't start beating yourself up Raine, I'm fine," I lied smoothly, but Raine nodded and sighed in relief, evidently glad that I lied or whatever it sounded like to her."Sword practice anyone?" I asked cheerfully as we stepped out into the sunshine.  
>"But Lyra, you don't even have a rightly balanced sword yet," Sarina said."So?" I questioned.<br>"Um, you'll suck at sword fighting?" Mell suggested.  
>"I'll manage," I waved her off. There was a weird kind of friendship between me and Mell. We would sometimes play nice, but other times we're jumping at each other's throats. Anyway, we made our way over to the sword arena and faced each other. Everyone unsheathed a sword except me, I felt kind of stupid, but that<br>only made me laugh."Um, I'm kinda handicapped here," I told them, and they all just smirked.  
>"Here," Sarina threw me medium-sized hunting knife.<br>"Uh, thanks," I flipped the dagger in the air, where it spun. I stuck out my hand at the right time an caught it by the hilt."We'll make it me verses Lyra and Mell verses Raine," Sarina suggested."Can't I verse Lyra?" Mell asked."No! You might actually kill her!" Sarina snapped."Fine," Mell grumbled."Okay then. Mell teach Raine a few manouvers while I teach Lyra how to  
>handle a knife," Sarina faced me."This knife's a bit heavy," I told her."You'll get used to it," she shrugged, "Okay first, I need to teach you a few things about dueling with a knife. First is that you have<br>better accuracy and aim with a knife then with a sword, and it's easier to pin-point targets, but you have to get in closer to your opponent to be able to reach them," Sarina explained."Got it," I nodded."You also have to have good co-ordination because you have to block your opponents attacks as well as attack them yourselves," Sarina explained all the rules to me and soon, I was ready for dueling."Since you have my knife, I'm going to have to use my sword," Sarina  
>apologized, "Sorry.""Don't be. I'll whip your butt any day," I smiled at her annoyance."Then get ready in three, two, one," Sarina lunged at me, but I<br>blocked her attack jerking away from her. I threw an attack of my own, which would've hitten her if she didn't duck. Sarina swung her sword at my legs and I jumped backwards again. We went on like this for a few minutes until I knew what I had to do. Sarina was a very straightforward person and wouldn't see a surprise attack coming until it was right in front of her.  
>I needed to make her duck again. I stabbed the knife at her head and she took the bait. She ducked. I leapt over her, using her back as a push off and spun in the air. I landed behind her and kicked her sword<br>out of her hands while she was too stunned to react fast enough. I pressed the dagger to the small of her back and yanked her up. She looked at me in disbelief.  
>"I hate to say I told you so," I said smugly, the dagger pressed against her neck."I was going easy," she insisted, which was a total lie because we were both covered in sweat."Total lie!" I heard somebody guffaw from behind me. I spun around to see Jacob smirking.<br>"Oh, hey Jake! You know, I was just thinking the same thing," I told him, "You saw the fight?" I rubbed my forehead with the back of my wrist."Yeah, the whole thing. Are you sure you've never handled a dagger  
>before?" he asked."Positive," I assured him as Sarina came back from retrieving her sword."Good game," she said as we shook hands, "Uh, can I have my knife back<br>now?""Oh yeah! Sorry," I gave it back to her. She looked totally pissed. I looked over at Mell and Raine. They weren't duelling, as Mell was still teaching her moves in slow motion."So…" Jacob trailed off."Yes?"  
>"How've you been?" he asked."Just peachy," I muttered bitterly."What happened?" he asked, his voice full of concern. I told him all about Raine's claiming and me being left behind."It'll be fine, it's only your second day here! Anything could happen!" Jacob smiled reassuringly."Yeah, I know, but I just feel so frustrated," I confessed. Feeling unwanted was not unfamiliar with me when it came to family.<br>"It'll turn out for the best," Jake said and I nodded uncertainly and unconvinced.

I walked back to the weapon shed, determined to find at least one thing that would work for me. But it was no use. I tried javlines, swords, spears, knives, bows, but nothing would work."Why! Why does it always have to be me!" I screamed and I threw the dagger I was throwing at one of the discarded training dummies on the other side of the tin shed, hitting it in between the eyes. I crumpled onto my knees and hugged myself, shivering by the sudden drop of temperature. I needed to get a grip. I was that little, tough girl that was confident and fierce. I breathed in shakily and stood up.I walked out of the shed a few minutes later and saw that it was raining. But weirdly, it wasn't raining in the camp. It was raining in one place, but it was as if a magical border protected the camp from freak stroms and stuff like this.I found Mell, Raine and Sarina sitiing by the lake and talking to eachother. I saw Mell get angry, but Sarina calmed her down. I had a sick feeling that they were talking about me. I approached them and they immediately stopped talking. I was absolutely furious now, but I bottled it up for later, for during a sword fight."Hi guys," I said icily, causing Raine to flinch."Oh… hi-hi Lyra," she stuttered, "We-we-" but Sarina cut her off."We were just planning to go to spear-throwing. Care to join us?" she asked standing up and dusting herself off.  
>"Sure," I said, not letting my icy tone drop. Sarina looked at me weirdly and together, all four of us walked over to a new line of targets. They were all taken up by little kids."Scram!" Mell shouted at them and they scurried away. Mell laughed at<br>her own power and gestured towards the now free targets. I knew it was useless holding onto my anger for now, so I let it drop. I picked up a  
>javelin left on the floor and passed it to Mell, to let her demonstrate how it's done. She seemed to be good at long distance battles."Okay, first, depending if you're right or left handed, let's say you're right-handed, you put your left foot in front of your right facing sideways," Mell started to explain, "Then, you lift your spear above your head like this and hurl it over with as much force as possible," Mell then demonstrated, missing the middle circle by mere<br>inches. Sarina, Raine and I followed her instructions carefully. Raine was awesome at it, she actually hit the middle circle of the target, and I helplessly sucked at it. When I threw it, it only missed Mell's  
>head by an inch. Mell ducked just in time and shot me a warning glance."Keep trying," she encouraged. I tried again. This time, it flew right past Mell's left ear.<br>"You asked for it!" she pulled on her bow and arrow and aimed it at my head."Mell stop! We do NOT want a replay of what happened to Jessica from the Hermes cabin do we?" Sarina shouted, deflecting Mell's arrow off her sword at the same time. Mell just breathed deeply and nodded, but leaving her bow out and an arrow still notched. I tried again, and this time, I tried harder, hoping to get at least the target board. But no such luck. It was like all my spears wanted to skewer Mell  
>through her brain. I tried to hide behind my next spear, but unfortunatly, I was bigger than it.<br>"Alright that's it!" Mell shouted and let her arrow fly."Mell! No!" Raine cried. I yelped and dived out of the arrow's path. But Mell just continued shooting at me. I luckily dodged all of her arrows, even knocking one out of it's path with my spear. Mell cried in frustration and drew her knife instead."Oh crap," I muttered and sprinted away. I weaved through campers,  
>thanks to my nimbleness, and sprinted to a hill, where I abrubtly stopped because when I looked l down, there was a mud course! Oh no. I turned around just in time to see Mell lunge at me.<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

Me: Heh, hi. Here's the next chapter. Sorry to the peeps who don't  
>like cliff hangers. Enjoy the next chapter! Epic fight coming up!<br>Okay, Nico, say the disclaimer.  
>Nico: I really hate the disclaimer.<br>Me: who doesn't?  
>Nico: it's just that everyone makes me do it!<br>Me: Well, while you hovle in self-pity…  
>Nico: I do NOT feel sorry for myself… okay, I do, but that's not the<br>point.  
>Me: I know, disclaimers suck, but then again, so does the world.<br>Nico: and if the world didn't suck we'd all fall off.  
>Me: my point exactly.<br>Nico: what does that have to do with the disclaimer?  
>Me: I dunno, they both suck, so I guess sucking?<br>Nico: the disclaimer's good at that.  
>Me: I totally agree.<br>Conner: me too, disclaimers have serious issues.  
>Me: when did you come?<br>Conner: just then.  
>Travis: is SOMEBODY going to do the disclaimer?<br>Me: it was initially going to be Nico, but…  
>Conner: shotgun not!<br>Nico: shotgun not!  
>Travis: grenade not!<br>Conner: I'd catch a grenade for ya!  
>Me: SOMEBODY DO THE DISCLAIMER BEFORE CONNER STARTS SINGING!<br>Conner: I'd jump in front of a train for ya!  
>Travis, Nico and Me: Aargh! *blocks ears*<br>Conner: I would go through all this pain! Take a bullet straight  
>through ma brain!<br>RandomPerson:  
>ZENITHFOURDEMIGODS DO NOT OWN PJO!<br>Me: who are you?  
>RandomPerson: a random person.<br>Nico: we figured.  
>Conner: IF MY BODY WAS ON FIRE, OOH YOU'D WATCH ME BURN DOWN IN FLAMES!<br>Me: Travis this is all your fault!  
>Annabeth: heh. I think we should let the readers er… read.<br>Me: I agree. Let's knock Conner out.  
>Nico: all in favor? *everyone raises hand except Conner*<br>Me: Oh Clarisse!  
>Clarisse: Alright Stoll, this is the part where you run for your life<br>*picks up baseball bat*  
>Conner: Oh shiz! *runs away screaming*<br>Clarisse: *runs after Conner with the bat raised*  
>Travis: I'll just get the popcorn *leaves room*<br>Nico: I'll get the soda *leaves room*  
>Me: I guess that leaves us to kick back an watch the show *watches<br>Conner getting beat up by and angry daughter of Ares with a baseball  
>bat in amusement*<br>Percy: do you reckon we should help him?  
>*Annabeth and Me exchange glances*<br>Annabeth and Me: NAH!  
>Annabeth: Ooh… that was bad. Ouch. R&amp;R everybody!<p>

MELL'S POV

That's it! I've had enough of Lyra! Say I have anger management  
>problems for all I care, but this camper's going down. Sure, we were<br>friends in some weird, twisted way, but I don't care. This chick's  
>really pissing me off!<p>

I raced after her through the bunch of campers. She was lucky she was  
>small and nimble, or she'd be pulp by now. I stopped when I saw her<br>freeze by a hill. I smiled wickedly to myself and dropped my knife.  
>Perfect. She turned around just as I pounced at her.<br>We rolled down the hill both of us kicking and flailing and then all  
>of a sudden; SPLAT!<br>I felt warm, sticky stuff all over my body as we reached the bottom of  
>the long hill. I sat up dizzily and looked around. I saw Lyra sit up<br>next to me and look at herself, then up at me. She looked like she was  
>about to burst with laughter, because when I tackled her, we rolled<br>down into the camp's mud course! To be honest, I was about to crack up  
>too. We looked like we'd just risen from the earth itself, both of us<br>covered in mud.  
>"Lyra!" I heard Raine scream.<br>"Mell!" I heard Sarina.  
>"Cat-fight!" I heard Travis, Conner and Jacob call. I looked at Lyra<br>again and she gave me a wink. I knew what I had to do. I shouted and  
>splashed mud on her. She pretended to look angry and tackled me into<br>the mud.  
>"Guys! Break it up!" Raine shouted as Jacob, Travis and Conner were<br>chanting: "Fight! Fight! Fight!" and Sarina was telling them to shut  
>up. Lyra pushed me away and smiled at me, but one that no one but me<br>could see. I nodded at her.  
>"Okay, help me up," Lyra held out her hand to Raine and me to Sarina.<br>They both looked reluctant to get dirty. Boy, was this going to be  
>funny. I heard Lyra snigger a little as she saw how reluctant they<br>were to get mud on themselves. Raine and Sarina grabbed both me and  
>Lyra's hand and together, Lyra an I pulled Raine and Sarina into the<br>mud too. That was our cue. Lyra and I burst out laughing, both of us  
>rolling around in the mud. We knuckle-tapped eachother.<br>"Ew!" Sarina and Raine screamed, which only made Lyra and I laugh  
>harder-if that were even possible. When we finally calmed down, we<br>heard other people howling with laughter. Travis, Conner and Jacob  
>were leaning on eachother for support, doubling over like someone had<br>just sucker-punched them in the stomach. The four of us girls looked  
>at eachother knowingly and all began to scoop up some mud in our<br>hands. We stood up slowly, mud piled in our palms.  
>"What are you-?" Travis started.<br>"Oh no," Conner moaned.  
>"Argh!" Jacob braced himself.<br>"Now!" Lyra called an we all shouted and pelted the boys with mud  
>pies. We had a fully fledged mud-war, and by the end of it, all seven<br>of us were caked and dripping with mud. We killed ourselves laughing  
>as we jogged up the hill, only to stop abruptly when we saw a circle<br>of campers huddled around something.  
>"What's going on?" Raine asked.<br>"I don't know," Sarina edged closer. We saw through a gap in the  
>crowds that there were three people there. One boy and two girls. I<br>realised after a few seconds that one of the girls was Annabeth and  
>the boy was Percy. Annabeth was shouting insults and curses at Percy,<br>while pelting him with things, and Percy was trying to explain  
>something to her.<br>"-could you Percy?" Annabeth screamed at him, "I thought you loved me!"  
>"I do, Annabeth!" Percy said while Annabeth pegged a toothbrush at his<br>face, "Calypso is just a friend!" Calypso?Oh yeah, I remember. Percy  
>asked the gods to free her from her island when he also asked them to<br>promise to claim their kids.  
>"Calypso?" I heard Lyra whisper-ask.<br>"Long-story-short, my brother, Percy, asked the gods to free Calypso  
>off her island the same time he asked the gods to claim their kids<br>once they reach thirteen," Sarina whispered back. Lyra and Raine nodded.  
>"I told you I loved you Percy! You should stay with me!" a pretty girl<br>with auburn hair cried. Calypso.  
>"I can't Calypso, Annabeth is my girlfriend!" Percy snapped.<br>"Leave her-" Calypso started but Annabeth cut her off.  
>"Butt out, Calypso," she hissed threatening her with her knife.<br>Calypso fell silent.  
>"Annabeth listen to me!" Percy grabbed Annabeth's wrists and held them<br>together so that she couldn't even smack him.  
>"Give me one good reason Percy!" she hissed at him, then spat at his<br>feet. Percy looked hurt but continued.  
>"Because you know, deep down, that this is stupid. You know that I'd<br>never leave you and that I did NOT invite Calypso here to stay. Chiron  
>did, and you know it! You can even ask him! Annabeth, look at me,"<br>Percy held both her wrists in one hand and held Annabeth's face in his  
>other.<br>"I love you and no one can change my mind about that. Not even  
>Calypso. Not even Aphrodite. I gave up immortality for you, and risked<br>my life for yours. What better reason can there be?" Percy asked,  
>exasperated. Annabeth gave up kissed Percy sweetly on the lips. I saw<br>Lyra try and fail to compress a smile and saw Raine's face twist into  
>confusion. Probably at why a sister of hers could fall for a seaweed<br>brain like Percy Jackson.  
>"Perseus Jackson, I healed you when you needed it most and I cared for<br>you! I loved you!" Calypso screamed.  
>"Ah, see what you did there? You said 'loved' not 'love'," Percy shook<br>his head, as if disappointed, "And besides, Annabeth has saved my life  
>more than you would think possible. Even from the first day we met.<br>And we were only twelve," Percy added.  
>"Well then hear this, I wish never to have met you or seen you or<br>cared for you or nursed you back to health-" Calypso started.  
>"That's a lot of or's," I heard Lyra mutter, and I chuckled.<br>"-you will never see me again!" with that, Calypso literally  
>disappeared into thin air.<br>"That's good enough for me," Annabeth laughed and kissed Percy again.  
>"Okay, let's go," I dragged everyone away before our minds could get<br>scarred for life.  
>"I agree. I really don't want this mud to dry on me," Jacob looked<br>back down at his clothes, and so did everyone else.  
>"Quickly, before everyone else goes for a shower. This will need hot<br>water," Raine said.  
>"Yup, let's go," Sarina led us away.<br>"See you boys!" Lyra called, waving.  
>"Bye!" Travis, Conner and Jacob said in unison, before heading off to<br>the boys showers.

After we had I all showered and changed, we met up again in front of  
>the pegasus stables.<br>"That was a nice shower," Raine said happily, but at the same time  
>looking at Lyra and I accusingly.<br>"It was too tempting!" Lyra cried raising her hands in the air.  
>"Yes, but it took ages for me to brush all of the dirt an mud out of<br>my hair," Sarina scolded.  
>"Well, I'm sorry Princess, but I like to add fun with all my meals. It<br>gives it more… flavor," Lyra said, putting her hands on her hips.  
>"Yes, but too much fun spoils the meal," Raine said.<br>"You can never have too much fun!" Lyra cried indignantly, as if  
>someone had just insulted her cousin.<br>"Anyway," I said, "What are we going to do now?"  
>"It's canoeing time!" Sarina squealed.<br>"Oh goody," Lyra muttered.  
>"You've never even been canoeing before," Raine said.<br>"I have too! I just… suck at it," Lyra looked down, embarrassed.  
>"Not with me around," Sarina said happily and skipped towards the<br>lake. Lyra face-palmed herself.  
>"Oh yeah, Poseidon," she groaned and followed after Sarina.<p>

When we had finally climbed in our canoes, I could see what Lyra meant  
>by 'suck'. It's not like she was doing anything wrong, it's just that<br>she kept going in circles. Sarina basically had to try push her along  
>with her water powers and stop the dryads from trying to capsize her.<p>

When canoeing was over, Lyra was laughing her head off. She tended to  
>do that when things don't go as planned or go stupidly wrong. We<br>walked over to dinner, where we went our own ways, each one of us to  
>the right table except Lyra, who sighed and walked to the Hermes table.<p>

At the campfire, Lyra still remained unclaimed, but she didn't seem to  
>feel any different. I kind of felt sorry for the girl, though I'd<br>NEVER, EVER say that out loud. Not even to my brothers. Not even to  
>Nico, who was my best friend who I told everything to… mostly.<p>

AUTHOR'S NOTE~ READ: IMPORTANT FOR FUTURE OF THIS STORY!

And there ya have it! Chapter 6!  
>Okay, we need to know if you want anyone to be paired up. We're going<br>to have SarinaxConner, but we wanna know maybe if you want any other  
>pairings.<br>Anywayz… review please!

Conner: I hate you.  
>Me: Aw, let's have a funeral.<br>Travis: Ooh, bro! You look like you just went and try to make Ares  
>wear a pink dress with polka dots!<br>Conner: we've already done that.  
>Travis: true, true.<br>Conner: do you remember it!  
>Travis: with the-?<br>Conner: stuff and those-  
>Travis: -people selling-<br>Conner: -Tacos and wearing-  
>Me: OKAY, THAT'S ENOUGH BOYS!<br>Travis: sorry.  
>Conner: we tend to do that sometimes.<br>Me: I know. Why do you think I asked you to shut up?  
>Conner:…<br>Me: REVIEW PLEASE!  
>Travis: It will be much appreciated!<br>Me: whoever reviews about the pairings will get a virtual cookie!  
>Conner: COOKIES!<br>Me: ugh. Anyway, just review and whatever! Have a nice day!


	7. Chapter 7

Hello guys! I updated as fast as I could! Anywhoz, here's chapter 7!

Virtual Cookie goes to: nicole (she has no account, but all the  
>same!). Nicole said the there should be LYRAxNICO, to annoy Mell. If<br>you have any other suggestions, I still have some cookies! Or if you  
>want cake, or pie, or a hug from a specific character, please say and<br>you will recieve it! XD  
>Conner: COOKIES!<br>Me: Conner?  
>Conner: yes?<br>Me: SHUT UP!  
>Conner: okay, okay!<br>Me: Read on!  
>Conner: And hold on to your wallets!<br>Me: CONNER!

LYRA'S POV

Today at dinner, there was more excitement than usual. It was Friday,  
>the night of Capture the Flag. All the Hermes campers and me were<br>huddling around eachother and discussing positions for eachother. I  
>was put as a guard on top of Zeus' Fist, a huge rock that looked like<br>a fist from one side, and a mound of hellhound droppings from the  
>other. Our flag was going to be secretly put up there and everyone<br>trusted me to guard it. I don't know why we put it up there. I mean,  
>EVERYONE can see it! I guess it was up to the Poseidon cabin though,<br>the captain of our team. We were sided with Poseidon, Athena, Demeter  
>and Dionysus. I recently found out that that pudgy man that talked to<br>us after dinner was the Camp Director, and he was the god Dionysus. He  
>was put here as a punishment for going after a wood nymph who was off<br>limits. I found that amusing, but Mr. D obviously didn't. He would  
>mope every morning and complain at dinner. It was fairly annoying and<br>we couldn't do anything about it. I wondered if Zeus sent Dionysus  
>here as Dionysus's punishment, or the demigods's punishment.<p>

After dinner, we had a team meeting instead of a campfire, which was  
>fine by me. I really didn't want to wait in vain for a Dad who would<br>never claim his own child. My sword fighting had greatly improved,  
>even though I had to used an unbalanced sword every time. I kept<br>whipping Sarina's butt, and I beat Raine the one time I versed her,  
>but unfortunately I wasn't allowed to verse Mell for safety reasons.<br>We all cracked up a that.

"Ok," Annabeth laid out a map infront of us, by the lake, "Our flag is  
>here," she pointed to a sketch of a pile of rocks.<br>"We have traps here, here, here and a few scattered around here,"  
>Percy pin-pointed a few places in the forest.<br>"Our defence modes are secured around the Fist in layers, with Lyra  
>and Chris standing around at the Fist's base," Sarina made circular<br>tracings around the Fist, like a radar.  
>"Actually, Chris fell off his pegasus today, and he sprained his<br>wrist," Katie Gardner, the head councilor for the Demeter cabin  
>sighed, as if Chris falling off his pegasus and spraining his wrist<br>was not a surprise.  
>"Oh, well I suppose we can place someone else there," Annabeth<br>murmured, scanning the map.  
>"We can't, we're already outnumbered. We can't afford to cut off any<br>attack or defenses," Percy shook his head.  
>"I can handle it alone," I suggested.<br>"Alone?" Annabeth looked at me enquiringly.  
>"Sure, if we move our defenses here and move a trap or two here," I<br>trailed off, tracing what I was talking about on the map.  
>"Nothing should be able to get past," Raine suddenly realized, "And if<br>we place some attacking campers around the outer circle, you could be  
>defending and attacking at the same time!" Raine said happily.<br>"You know, they're plan could actually work," Travis and Conner stared  
>at us in amazement.<br>"Yes, I've never tried this before. It would be interesting to see the  
>results," Annabeth stared off into nowhere.<br>"What do you think?" I turned to Sarina and Percy, the true captains.  
>"I say we go for it!" Percy pounded his fist on the table.<br>"Let's do this!" Sarina smiled and reset our defences.  
>"Nice," Raine and I high fived.<p>

After the planning was finished, Raine and I went to practice our  
>sword fighting. Raine was an attacker, so we made it that she'd have<br>to try and get passed me to win. I had to pick out an unbalanced  
>dagger again, but that was fine, I'm used to unbalanced things now.<br>Raine charged at me. I parried her attack and saw her moves before she  
>made them. I liked using daggers better than swords, but I could live<br>with both. I dodged, attacked and jabbed, but we were equally matched.  
>Raine was strategic and balanced, and I was skilled and fast. By the<br>end of our match, Raine's sword had clattered to the floor, and so did  
>mine.<br>"Come on," Raine panted. "The game's about to start."

Chiron explained the rules to us and prepared a table full of weaponry  
>and armor. I had to get one of the smallest sizes, while Raine was<br>allowed to wear the average size breastplate. I picked up a dagger  
>that would suit me best. It was a little heavy, but I'll live.<br>I hope.  
>Together Raine and I took up our positions in the forest.<br>After Raine had gone, I climbed up easily to the top of Zeus' Fist and  
>sat down in front of the flag. A conch horn sounded in the distance<br>and a hundred or so campers, give or take a few, shouted out battle  
>cries and charged. I heard metal clash against metal and scrapings of<br>stones and other things. I saw little explosions of green fire, or  
>more commonly known as Greek fire, all over the place. I leaned back<br>against a big boulder amd waited for an enemy to slip through our  
>defenses. I liked it up here. I had a good view of the unseen battles<br>of the attacking group, while the the tree nymphs hid other sneaking  
>campers, courtesy of Percy and the Demeter cabin.<br>I waited up on the rock for a while, waiting for at least one person  
>to slip through. I had a spare bow and arrow with me, just in case I<br>see someone hiding among the bushes. I saw a few people, but they were  
>all from my team, probably checking up on me.<p>

Suddenly, I saw a red plume of a helmet. An opposer; an enemy. I stood  
>up and balanced myself on the boulder I was just leaning on. I found<br>it perfectly easy and I somehow wasn't even afraid of falling. I held  
>up the bow and aimed it at where I saw the red plume. I let out a<br>volley of arrows. A voice that was definitely a boy's yelped and  
>stumbled out from the bush. He had three arows sticking out from his<br>helmet. He yanked it off and looked up at me. It was Jacob. My battle  
>armor was weighing me down a bit, but I didn't give in. I notched<br>another arrow and aimed it at Jake's unprotected forehead.  
>"Lyra?" he asked uncertainly.<br>"Retreat," I said sternly, still holding my bow ready.  
>"Lyra-" Jacob started to say, but I cut him off.<br>"Jake," I aimed the arrow and shot at the tree next to his left ear,  
>"Retreat," I repeated. Jake gulped, nodded and backed away,<br>disappearing into the thick undergrowth of the forest. I heard another  
>rustle from behind me and spun quickly, only to come face to face with<br>three big, mean looking kids. From the Ares cabin, no doubt. It was a  
>trick. Jacob had distracted me so I wouldn't see the others coming. I<br>shot arrow after arrow at them, sometimes getting the chinks in the  
>armor, but it was never enough. I didn't even have time to ask how<br>they got through our defenses. I dropped the bow and arrow and  
>unsheathed my borrowed hunting knife as big as my arm. I leapt from<br>the stone and stumbled a bit in front of them. They laughed at me.  
>"And do you really think you can beat us?" a boy cackled again.<br>"Um, yeah," I nodded. They all glared at me. One of the campers lunged  
>at me and I hit him in the head with the butt of my sword, easily<br>knocking him to the side, unconscious. The second guy and I had a  
>little duel, and he grazed me on the arm a bit, but I barely felt the<br>pain. I gritted my teeth and hit the hilt of his sword with my own and  
>twisted. The move felt wrong with my unbalanced knife and I nearly<br>dropped it. But instead, the other guy's sword clattered to the ground  
>and I picked it up and chucked to the top of Zeus' fist. The third<br>camper wasn't too keen on attacking and instead, retreated with his  
>unconscious buddy and sibling back into the green of the forest.<br>"And don't come back," I hissed at them. But I could tell something  
>was wrong. The Ares' kids looked like he was trying to buy time. He<br>gave himself away by glancing at the base of Zeus' fist. In the dark,  
>I could see a silhouette of a girl trying to climb to the top.<br>"Oh Styx," I muttered and quickly raced back over to the Fist. I  
>quickly jumped from rock to rock, reaching the top. I was lucky the<br>flag-pole was tied to the rocks with ropes or I never would have made  
>it in time. I jumped to the top of the Fist just as the girl brought<br>out a knife to slash the ropes. I watched in slow motion as the sword  
>came down.<br>'No!' I thought and ran over and blocked the knife about a millimeter  
>away from the rope. I pushed the knife away.<br>"Not. So. Fast," I said dangerously and turned around to face the girl.  
>I saw no other than Mell herself.<br>"Oh yeah, try me," Mell again went to slash the ropes, but I again  
>blocked her.<br>"You want the flag, your gonna have to duel with me first," I said  
>simply. "Or are you too chicken?"<br>Mell's nostrals flared and her eyes flashed dangerously. Déjà vu.  
>"You're dead Lyra! And don't ever call me chicken," she hissed.<br>"Oh you mean like this? Chicken! Chicken, chicken, chicken!" I sang,  
>laughing. Mell yelled and slashed at me instead. I parried her swing<br>and pushed her blade against her.  
>"Oh come on, Imeldes, you can do better than that!" I laughed at her,<br>remembering when Raine told me her full name. Mell's face was  
>distorted in rage. She screamed some colorful language at me and<br>attacked again. I just twisted out of the way. I liked fighting with  
>Mell, she was just too easy to annoy. But I started to get serious<br>though. I started attacking her and she blocked. We fought vigorously  
>and hard until both of us were panting. I was aware of eyes on us as<br>we fought. People had come to watch. I suddenly felt the darkness  
>surrounding me becoming heavy on my shoulders, making me feel empty<br>and weak, as if it was also against me. Oh yeah, it was. I forgot that  
>Mell's mother was Nyx, goddess of the night. Of course, Mell would be<br>at her strongest at this point. I was determined to stay focused. I  
>kept slashing at Mell, and I could tell that trying to get the<br>darkness to work for her took a lot of energy.  
>I suddenly felt the sky rumble above us as thunder cracked loudly and<br>lightning flashed everywhere. My ADHD mind started wondering if a  
>storm this big would penetrate through the camp borders. Obviously, it<br>didn't. Sort of. Even though it was raining, it couldn't penetrate the  
>camp borders, but the lightning could. It flashed through the trees<br>and I suddenly froze, in the middle of my clash with Mell. I felt some  
>sort of power rushing through me as the storm got bigger. I felt more<br>energized than usual and I felt stronger. The sword suddenly felt  
>weightless in my hand, but I still couldn't move. The power running<br>through my body felt like I had just gotten electrocuted. Every nerve  
>was on full alert mode and every cell in my body was jumping around. I<br>saw Mell pull out her bow and arrow, but she suddenly stopped and  
>looked up at the sky. I did too, and suddenly, I was engulfed in<br>bright white light. My brain felt like it was about to explode with  
>strength and energy, and everything in my body was suddenly more keen<br>and alert and… better. I could hear the crickets chirping louder. I  
>could hear campers screaming, besides the static in my ears. I could<br>see every leaf in the forest, every shade of green. I could see the  
>horrified faces of allies and foes. I could see the face of Mell, also<br>horror-stricken.  
>"Holy sh-" but she was cut off because of the crack of thunder.<br>Suddenly, the white light surrounding me was gone, but I could still  
>feel the aftershock of the amazing power I felt. It was as if<br>everything was paying more attention.  
>"Wh-what happened?" I asked, confused. But no one was looking at me;<br>everyone was staring on top of my head. I slowly looked up to see a  
>fading image of what looked like a white and purple lightning bolt.<br>"What's that?" I asked. But still no one was listening. Everyone  
>started bowing for some strange reason. They were bowing to me! I saw<br>Sarina bow down and yank a confused looking Raine down with her. Mell  
>jumped back a bit so that she was standing next to the bowing figure<br>of Chiron. Everyone was bowing except Mell, who was glaring at me  
>murderously. Sarina tried to tug her down too, but Mell refused. A<br>look from Chiron did the trick though and Mell hesistantly dropped to  
>one knee, still glaring daggers. I swear, if looks could kill, I'd be<br>loooong dead.  
>"All hail, Lyra Jett, daughter of Zeus, king of the heavens, god of<br>storm," Chiron said grimly. Daughter of Zeus? Who, me? What the hell?  
>"It ain't over Sparky, a little flash in the sky ain't gonna stop me<br>from turning you into a grease spot," I heard Mell mutter as she stood  
>up from her bow.<p>

(A/N: I was initially going to stop here, but I thought that you might  
>need this!)<p>

That night, I was moved to the Zeus cabin, Cabin 1. The door was  
>holographic, so whichever angle you looked at it, you could see<br>lightning flashes. It was pretty awesome. Sarina and Percy were the  
>two assigned to lead me to the cabin.<br>"Welcome to Cabin 1," Percy said as he pushed open the door. The first  
>thing I smelt was ozone. It was nice I guess, calming even. The first<br>thing I saw was a statue. It was as tall as the cabin itself. And it  
>was marble. I usually expected marble statues to have blank eyes and<br>weird expressions, but this one was painted in vibrant colors so that  
>it looked realistic. It was no doubt Zeus. Dad. His eyes seemed to<br>follow you everywhere you walked and his expression was something  
>like: bow-to-me-or-die-an-excruciatingly-painful-death-by-my-hand.<br>Creepy, right?  
>"Umm…" I started to say.<br>"Don't worry, you get used to it," Percy laughed.  
>"You've been in here before?" I asked.<br>"Yeah, I have friends who are children of Zeus too, though one's Roman  
>and the other's a Hunter of Artemis," Percy shrugged.<br>"What're their names?" I asked.  
>"Thalia and Jason Grace," Sarina said.<br>"Blood-siblings?" I asked, shocked.  
>"Yes, though they don't see eachother often," Percy sighed.<br>"Oh. Anyway, where will I sleep?" I asked.  
>"Anywhere," Sarina smiled. I walked around the room, and stopped at a<br>bunk that looked already taken. There were faded pictures on the wall.  
>Each one had a picture of two different blond dudes, Percy and two<br>girls. One of the girls was Annabeth!  
>"Is that Thalia?" I pointed to the girl with electric blue eyes and<br>spikey black hair.  
>"Yeah, and that's Jason," Percy pointed to the younger blond guy. I<br>could see no resemblance between the two. I would've passed more for  
>Thalia's sister, or Jason's sister. It was like… it was like I was<br>the missing link between the two! If you put them together, you could  
>see no resemblance, but if you put me in the middle, you could connect<br>us and call us siblings. It was like I made our family look like a  
>family. I smiled a little to myself and turned to Percy.<br>"Will I ever meet them?" I asked.  
>"Thalia maybe, but I'm not so sure about Jason," Percy shrugged.<br>"Oh," it would've been nice to have a picture with all of us together.  
>I put the pictures back on the wall and walked over to the bunk next<br>to Thalia's.  
>"Here's fine," I said, checking out the blue bed sheets and covers. I<br>looked up at the ceiling and saw that there were clouds moving around,  
>some lightning flashing from time to time. It probably reflects the<br>weather outside or something.  
>"Well, we'll leave you in peace," Sarina said. "Goodnight!"<br>"Later Lyra," Percy smiled.  
>"Night guys," I sighed as they closed the door behind them.<br>It felt so lonely in here! I had my belongings brought over and I  
>quickly had a shower, changed and got ready for bed.<br>When I finally got to sleep, I dreamt about all of the past's events,  
>and weirdly, my mom. I don't think my life could get any—freaking—<br>worse.

•REVIEW PEEPS!•


	8. Chapter 8

LYRA'S POV

When I woke up in the morning, I was pretty sure the sun had just risen. Well at least that's what my roof told me. I sighed and climbed out of bed, sitting on the edge. I squealed when I sat on something hard and square. I jumped up and saw that it was a package. It was wrapped in brown package paper and tied with string that finished with a bow. Tucked under the bow was a white piece of paper with writing scrawled on it. I pulled at the bow, and it came undone. I picked up the paper and read.

To Lyra,  
>Use it well. Congratulations by the way, you won Capture the Flag!<p>

From your Father,  
>Zeus<p>

What was in the parcel that I needed to use well? Dad actually sent me something? How did he know that I didn't know last night's results? A million questions were swimming through my head, but I shook them away and went for the parcel. I tore of the brown paper to a plain white box. I breathed in deeply, expecting something to pop out of the box. Like monsters. Or worse, confetti. My hands shook as I pulled off the lid of the box. What I saw inside confused me. There was a lighter. I picked it up and examined, twirling it in my hand. It was  
>cool I guess, holographical like the door, with lightning flashing across every time you twisted it. I was confused though, at why Dad would give me a lighter. I thought, what the heck, and clicked the lighter, holding it in front of my face. I nearly cut my head off as a blade shot out of the lighter.<br>"Holy mother of Zeus," I squealed and dropped the long dagger on the floor. It was beautiful. The bronze blade was engraved with gold letters λύρα **(it Lyra IN GREEK)**  
>It's handle was black, encrusted with a big grayish, storm-like jewel. I picked up the weapon and surprisingly, it felt good in my hands. It was lightweight and finally, I felt wanted.<br>Now all I had to do was figure out how to make the sword change back into a lighter. First, I tried flipping it in the air, but that didn't work, so I tried to twist the handle, but that also failed.A small voice in my head said: the jewel.  
>I eyed the jewel and pressed it. The lighter immediately folded like a paper display until there was a lighter sitting innocently in my palm. I smiled to myself. Maybe life as a demigod wouldn't be so bad after all.<p>

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW **REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW ****REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW ****REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW ****REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW ****


	9. Chapter 9

SARINA'S POV

So, Lyra ended up being a daughter of Zeus, not surprising after we just saw her get struck by lightning and she was okay. Not even her clothes were singed.

Percy and I were assigned to take her to Cabin 1, the Zeus cabin where Thalia used to stay. She somehow seemed sad or something when she went into the empty cabin. Maybe she was expecting a family. She sort of did have a family. I mean, she had Thalia and Jason, and then she had me, Percy and Nico.  
>Lyra danced across the room to Thaila's bunk and took down a few pictures. Ones with Thalia and Jason. Now that I look at it, Lyra was like in the middle of Thalia and Jason's resemblance. No way, why didn't I see it before?<br>Anyway, Percy and I left Lyra in peace and made our way back over to the Poseidon cabin.  
>Percy gave me another long and boring talk about dating and that I shouldn't get a boyfriend. I nodded at the right times, but I was barely listening. I was too busy thinking about Mell and Lyra's epic sword fight. I heard that people were running over to see it, so I left Percy to the flag and went to watch too. Raine was also there, staring at the two in awe. So was I. They fought like demons as they danced across the rocks. I was scared for her life as I saw Lyra suddenly freeze, and horrified when she was electrocuted, only to find that she hadn't been at all.<br>I fell asleep still thinking about Capture the Flag and what would happen to Lyra now.  
>I woke the next morning to see Percy snoring loudly on the other side of the cabin. I walked over to him and literally started to jump on his bed."Where's the monster?" Percy shouted as he shot out of bed, looking around wildly. I laughed myself silly as I saw Percy snap back to reality.<br>"Aw, shut up," he mumbled as he went to pick out his clothes. I did the same and changed into my camp shirt and shorts, walking down to breakfast with Percy striding next to me. When we got there, I saw Lyra sitting at the Zeus cabin, spinning some kind of object on the table, with her legs up on the long bench.  
>Percy and I sat down together at the Poseidon table, and after<br>offering food to the gods, we literally ate our food in under ten minutes. Percy was already up to his third omelet, while I was sculling down my cup of orange juice. Suddenly, I heard a loud 'BANG!' and nearly spit all of my juice on Percy. I looked over at the Zeus table, where Lyra stood up and stormed out of the dining pavilion. For once, everybody was silent. I stared at the confused face of campers. Whispers started to spread through the room. Percy stared around as well, looking as concerned as I felt. I silently stood up and followed Lyra out of the pavilion.

I walked around camp until I finally saw Lyra at the training arena, skewering all of the dummies and basically slashing them to pieces. Her face looked furious and hurt as she slashed and jabbed all of the innocent stuffed dummies. The sky rumbled as the clouds turned gray, and I was slightly worried.  
>I waited until Lyra was positive that all the dummies were destroyed before talking to her. She was breathing heavily and facing the other way as I approached. When she heard someone coming, she stiffened and suddenly, a blade was at my neck. Lyra was shorter than me, but that didn't make her any less threatening. Her face was contorted with rage as she glared at me.<br>"Why are you here?" she hissed in a low voice.  
>"To see if you were okay!" I cried, "Now if you would please remove your blade from my throat, I would highly appreciate it."<br>Lyra's eyes sparked dangerously, but she removed her dagger anyhow."I'm fine," she sighed miserably, "I was just upset because everyone has brothers and sisters to talk to, and I have no one," the longing in Lyra's voice was nearly pleading.  
>"Nico doesn't have any siblings," I pointed out.<br>"He doesn't count, children of Hades like being alone, and besides, he has a sister he can talk to from the dead," Lyra shrugged. How she knew about Nico's sister, Bianca Di'Angelo, I did not know, but I shrugged it off."You have us!" Raine said, coming up behind me, her gold hair blowing in the breeze. Mell wasn't far behind her, though she didn't look half as convinced about what Raine said. Lyra managed a small smile and  
>muttered her thanks.<br>"Nice job you did here, but this time, I ain't cleaning it," Mell looked over at the shredded dummies and dented armor.  
>"I'll get it later," Lyra shrugged and sighed. I looked at her blade. It was different than Lyra's normal blade, but this blade somehow seemed to suit her. It looked balanced in her hands and worked well with the sword technique she uses.<br>"Nice blade," I gestured to the cross between a dagger and a sword. That distracted Lyra.  
>"Thanks, it was a present from Zeu- I mean Dad," Lyra smiled and pressed the big storm-colored jewel and the long dagger transformed into a smaller object. A lighter. It was pretty cool for a lighter, with holographic lightning strikes on it. Lyra smiled again and tucked it in her pocket.<br>"That's awesome!" Raine exclaimed."Yeah, I guess so," Lyra sighed, fiddling with her lighter again."Hey, err, do you maybe want to go ride pegasi or something?" I asked.  
>"Umm… I don't know how," Lyra confessed, so did Raine.<br>"That's fine we'll teach you!" Mell laughed, "Or more like

she'll teach you. Pegasi and I don't really see eye to eye."  
>"Yeah, they're too afraid of her," I laughed.<p>

"Who wouldn't be afraid of her, when she has a face like that?" I heard Lyra mutter."You got something to say, Sparky?" Mell asked.  
>"Nah, I was just commenting on how nice the dirt looks," Lyra said quickly, before realizing what she actually said.<br>"Oh sweet Zeus," she paled and sprinted away, while Mell ran after her, screaming out insults in Ancient Greek.  
>"Do reckon they'll be able to last a day without fighting," I asked."Not if you gave Lyra a hundred dollars, a pack of chewing gum and a backstage-pass to a Nickelback concert," Raine sighed and together, we took off after the two. We found them at Zeus' fist, with Lyra looking down from the top and Mell struggling to climb up. Raine and I grabbed her and pulled her away before she could climb any further.<br>"Lyra Valeree Jett, you get down here this instant!" Raine shouted."You sound like my mother!" Lyra called back, but came down anyway. She literally jumped from the top of the Fist, down to the ground, which was considerably dangerous because of how tall the Fist was. But Lyra landed on her two feet in front of us and pouted, keeping her distance from Mell.  
>"Well, I'm not going Pegasus riding, so I'm off to see Nico," Mell whirled around and sprinted back towards the dining pavilion."Let's go," Lyra grumbled. We ran off to the stables, talking about the different types of gods and what they do. I whistled three times and three pegasi came out. All were pure white and big, with feathery wings attached to their backs.<br>"They're beautiful," Raine muttered, mesmerized by the flying horses.' Thank you random stranger,' my Pegasus, Tsunami neighed."This is my Pegasus, Tsunami, he says thank you," I told Raine."You understand them?" Lyra asked, amazed.  
>"I can talk to them, and they can talk to me-" I started to explain, but I was interrupted by Lyra."Horse-whisperer!" she doubled over, laughing."I'm serious! It was a gift I inherited from my dad. He created the first horse out of sea foam, remember?" I said. Raine nodded, but Lyra was still to busy laughing about the whole 'horse-whisperer' thing. I rolled my eyes at her.<br>"Just get on," I sighed. Lyra and Raine, still giggling, mounted their pegasi."Sit in between the wing joints, like this," I mounted my own pegasi and showed them where to sit.  
>"Got it," Raine said proudly."Okay good! Now, gently dig your knees just under the wing joint," I demonstrated, "Depending on how gently you do it, the Pegasus will slowly rise."<br>Tsunami rose into the air, flapping his wings.  
>'Yes! I get to fly again!' he neighed. Lyra and Raine did the same, but Lyra accidently dug a little too hard and her Pegasus shot up into the air.<br>"Oops," I heard her mutter as she stopped her Pegasus. Raine and I laughed and both rose up to her.  
>"Okay to actually go forward, you have to lean forward and dig again, like riding a normal horse," just to prove my point, I circled around them with Tsunami.<br>'Can we get to business now?' Tsunami whined."We have to teach them first," I whispered to him.  
>'Aw, come on!' he huffed. I laughed a bit and continued to teach Lyra and Raine how to ride.<p>

After about thirty minutes, Lyra and Raine were flying around the camp with me. We had a great time, looking at what was going on around camp. We saw the Ares kids running after two boys, which we figured was Travis and Conner. Lyra was laughing hysterically because she apparently knew what Conner and Travis did, but she refused to tell us because the plan was not yet completed.  
>We flew around for a few minutes and waved to Mell who was at the archery range, shooting arrows at the targets.<br>After a while, we decided it was time to stop. We landed Tsunami and the other pegasi, who learnt were called Mickey and Mr. Hullabaloo. I sniggered at the second name and wondered who would call their Pegasus that. My mind wandered to Conner for a second. He always gives his things the stupidest names. I shook the thought out of my head. The dinner horn sounded and Raine went to find Mell, while Lyra and I walked back over to the dining pavilion.  
>"How's the Zeus cabin?" I asked Lyra, wanting to break the silence between us.<br>"Lonely, tense, abandoned, nothing I'm not used to," Lyra shrugged."Yeah, that's one reason why Thalia joined the Hunters of Artemis," I shrugged."Yeah, I don't blame her," Lyra sighed.  
>We arrived at the dinning pavilion and went our ways. I saw Raine and Mell lumber in too, sitting down at their own tables.<p>

The dinner and campfire went like a blur and soon, everyone was sent to bed, where I collapsed an fell asleep, fully clothed.

**•YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO! ;)•**


	10. Chapter 10

RAINE'S POV

I woke up in the morning to my whole cabin screaming and running around, while Annabeth was at the front of the room, trying to calm everyone down. I yawned and stood up, stretching and going to quickly  
>get changed."What's all the fuss about?" I asked Annabeth, tugging on my Camp Half-Blood t-shirt."It's cabin inspections, so we have to tidy up before breakfast, whichis in…" Annabeth checked her watch, "Oh crap, ten minutes! ALL RIGHTEVERYBODY LISTEN UP!" she shouted loudly and everyone immediately fellsilent.<p>

"The Aphrodite cabin is inspecting so we have to make everythingspotless. We have ten minutes. Go!" Annabeth shouted and I rushed off to clean my side of the cabin, which was considerably not that hard  
>because I didn't have many belongings. After about seven minutes, the cabin looked neat and tidy, with all<br>our scrolls and blueprints placed neatly on the shelves and our beds all made."Well done, Cabin 6, never thought you'd-" Annabeth was cut off by aloud knock on the door."Oh, hello Gina and Bailey. Are you the inspectors?" I heard Annabethask, while standing by my bunk."Oh come in," Annabeth smiled and stood aside from the door. Twopretty girls wearing too much make-up strode into the cabin with pink,fluffy ended pens and clipboards. They looked around the room and atthe campers. They checked things off their clipboards as they looked,  
>but I was pretty sure they were checking out some of the guys as well."Well done Athena cabin, you get a four out of five," one of the girlssaid. Annabeth sighed in relief, and so did everyone else. As soon as<br>the Aphrodite girls walked out I turned to Annabeth."Why is everyone so relieved we got a four?" I asked.  
>"Because the cabin with the lowest mark has to clean the dishes at dinner, and trust me, that is something you do NOT want to be doing,"Annabeth laughed, as if remembering something. I nodded and together,<br>our whole cabin marched down to breakfast. We offered some food to Athena before digging in. I saw Lyra picking at her food slowly and eating little. Lyra was never much of an eater,but there was something different about her. After we finished breakfast, Mell, Sarina, Lyra and I walked together  
>to the sword fighting arena. This time, Sarina and I allowed Mell and Lyra to duel each other.<p>

"May the best… demigod win," Lyra chose her words carefully as sheclicked her lighter. Her dagger/sword appeared in her hand. Mell smiled smugly and pounced. Lyra counter-attacked and pressed Mell  
>backwards. They fought on and on, though I could see Lyra slowly starting to overshadow Mell. Lyra suddenly did a weird movement with the hunting knife and Mell's sword literally flew about five meters<br>away and stuck in a tree. Lyra had her dagger pressed against Mell'sthroat and was smiling delightfully.  
>"I win!" she sang."This time," Mell growled and went to fetch her sword."I win! I win, I win, I win, I-" Lyra suddenly stopped chanting as the sky grew dark. There were suddenly big, black storm clouds rolling along the sky."I swear that's not me!" Lyra shouted as people looked at her in panic. Lightning started to flash and thunder boomed and cracked in the silence. Then the weirdest thing happened. It started to rain. And not just rain, it poured. The rain drops pelted down so hard, it actually hurt."Everyone run for cover!" Sarina screamed as everyone started to scream and sprint to the amphitheatre or their cabins, whichever was closest. Lyra, Mell, Sarina and I sprinted to the closest thing to Zeus cabin. Lyra opened the door and other people rushed into the cabin, soaking wet and dripping on the floor. People in the cabin were: Jacob, Conner, some random guy from the Demeter cabin, and one of my half-sisters I knew as Christie.<p>

We all huddled up at the window and stared outside in awe. It had never rained inside the camp before. Lyra looked like she was studying the roof of her cabin, pacing around and muttering something which  
>sounded a lot like "Father".After about twenty minutes of non-stop rain and Jacob trying to calm Lyra down, the rain seized. All of a sudden, Percy came bursting into the room."Head Councillors are to go to the Big House now for an emergency meeting," he panted."Head Councillors?" I asked, confused."That'd be me," Conner sighed and got up, but not before grinning stupidly at Sarina, who blushed furiously. Percy's eyes flashed dangerously."Where's Travis?" Percy asked Conner tightly."I think he was in the Demeter cabin," Conner said, "making out with Katie.""Ew! Conner, there are some things better left a mystery!" Lyra made a face at Conner, who laughed and walked out of the cabin. All of us were already dry."You and I are going to have a talk young lady!" Percy raised an eyebrow at Sarina, who blushed even redder, "Um, Lyra, you're the Head Councillor for the Zeus cabin, you know that right?" Percy asked. "Yeah, I'm coming," Lyra nodded and walked out the door, "Come on girls, it's not raining any more.""Are you sure, because I don't want to, like, ruin my hair, because it took, like, ten hours to do," Jacob said in a mock-girly voice. Lyra poked her tongue out at him, but we all trooped out of the cabin, and our shoes squelched in the wet grass and I looked back to see Lyra walking towards the Big House with Percy. I looked back towards Mell. "Do you wanna follow them?"Mell looked at me devilishly, "Who would have thought it would be you breaking the rules?""Every angel has a dark side," I smiled and together, we followed Lyra and Percy to the Big House in secret. As Percy and Lyra went through the door, Mell and I crept to the side window, directly behind the towering figure of Chiron. I saw Percy and Lyra sit on each side of Chiron. Percy smiled happily and Lyra leaned back in her chair, her arms crossed in front of her chest."Thank you campers for coming. Welcome to the Councillor's Meeting Lyra, you will be representing the Zeus cabin," Chiron smiled warmly to Lyra, who smiled weakly back. Everyone cheered and clapped. "Okay, you're probably all wondering why I called an emergency Councillor's Meeting, am I correct?" Chiron asked, and everyone nodded. Travis and Conner set a table-tennis ball on fire, of which Percy sighed and put it out with his water powers. Travis and Conner laughed a little and set it on fire again, which I had no idea how because technically, the ball should be wet and therefore- Anyway, that went on for ages until Chiron banged his hoof on the floor. Travis quickly put the ball on the table and tried to look innocent. I saw that Katie Gardner girl shake her head. Travis winked at her, and she blushed. Conner sniggered a little. "Campers!"Chiron called. That got everyone's attention, "Anyway, I've been assigned to tell you-" "Hey guys, what are you doing?" I heard Sarina and Jacob ask from next to us. "Shush!" we yanked them down and pointed to the window. Sarina and Jake looked at us quizzically and then looked through the window so we could continue spying. "Ow!" Mell yelped as she hit her head on the window frame. I saw Lyra's head snap in our direction. She spotted us and had to cover up a laugh with a cough.<p>

"Was there something you wanted to say, Lyra?" Chiron asked."No sir," Lyra lied smoothly, "but thanks for asking. Please continue."As I was saying, I have been assigned to tell you some terrible news. Something very valuable has been stolen from Olympus. It is the most powerful thing in the universe, that is destined to destroy Olympus," Chiron said, and everyone looked at him quizzically again."You mean… like Percy?" Annabeth asked.  
>"No, it is something much more…dangerous than Percy," Chiron chose his words with care.<br>"How do you mean?" a tall guy with really black hair and dark eyes asked in a gruff voice. His biceps bulged under his black muscle shirt. "That's Dean," Mell whispered. "My brother." Now I looked, you could sort of tell.  
>"If I tell you, I am afraid it will scare you too much," Chiron sighed. Whispers started circulating through the room.<br>"Now, I'm missioning a quest. I will allow eight campers to go-" Chiron was cut off by Annabeth. "Chiron, are you sure? Eight demigods is pretty risky," she said uneasily. "Yes child, but this quest will be dangerous, so the more campers, the better," Chiron said, "Now who would like to volunteer?" he turned  
>towards the older campers. Everyone was silent, and just as I thought Chiron was going to pick them out himself, an unexpected voice spoke up. "I'll go," Lyra said simply. I looked at her in shock. Oh no. "Lyra? Are you sure?" Chiron asked in surprise. "Sure, got nothing better to do and besides, no one else wants to do it," Lyra shrugged.<br>"Oh, well in that case, it is time to visit the Oracle," Chiron nodded uneasily, and Lyra stood up. Together they swept out of the room and up a big hill with a massive cave there. I deliberated on following them, but I heard the whispers start inside."What's going to happen?" Katie asked, worriedly. "I don't know. She's new!" Annabeth shook her head. "We were only eleven on our first quest," Percy pointed out. "I know, but you had me,"Annabeth said matter-of-factly. Percy smiled and shrugged. "Well, I dunno about you, but I seriously would NOT want to be going on this quest," a boy who'd never spoken before spoke up."Me either," a girl sighed.  
>"I feel sorry for her though. Remember… the other children of Zeus,"a girl choked."Yeah. Lonely as ever," Annabeth sighed."I was lonely as ever in my cabin, until Sarina came along," Percy shrugged. I looked over at Sarina, who blushed. They all continued talking about what might happen if Lyra doesn't succeed. Finally, Lyra came back, looking a little shaken, but confident. Okay, Lyra. Will you please say the prophecy?" Chiron asked as they took they're positions around the ping-pong table."Sure. Um…<p>

_'Eight heroes of the west shall travel south,_  
><em>To the world with a cave and a swallowing mouth.<em>  
><em>Travelling far and travelling fro,<em>  
><em>Meeting family, meeting foe.<em>  
><em>Dangers come quick and success is hard,<em>  
><em>The deadliest weapon they'll have to guard.<em>  
><em>Lead by heart and not by mind,<em>  
><em>The time is limited and life is timed',"<em>

Lyra finished. That did not sound good. "Uh, okay. First things first, you may choose seven companions to gowith you," Chiron said, but Lyra shook her head. "I will not drag anyone along who is unwilling to come," she nodded as if understanding. Just then, Jacob stood up and walked to the door of the room "Where are you going?" I hissed."To volunteer. I'm not letting Lyra go by herself!" he answered, but kept walking. I really had a bad feeling about this, but I'm not letting my best friend go anywhere without me. Jacob pushed open the door of the room where everyone sat. All eyes turned to us and I blushed furiously. "Jacob, what are you doing here?" A boy that must of been his older half-brother asked. "I'm here to volunteer for the quest," he told him, and everyone else. Lyra smiled brightly, and she looked like her old self again."Me too," I sighed and stood next to Jake."And I am so not going to let Sparky have all the fun," Mell shrugged and smiled."I guess that leaves me no choice but to go as well," Sarina sighed too and smiled."Woah, woah. That's five people! We need three more!" Annabeth said, as if that wasn't obvious. "For someone like you, that was a pretty dumb thing to say," Percy mumbled and Annabeth blushed. "I'll go," Nico shrugged and everyone turned to him. Nico obviously never volunteered for anything and tried to stay low. "You?" Katie Gardner asked."Yes, me. I don't want to stay here and be alone for however long the quest goes for," Nico shrugged. "Two more," Chiron looked to Percy and Annabeth. Not this time Chiron, Annabeth and I want a little break. And besides, it's time for new heroes to step up," Percy looked at Lyra, Sarina and Nico fondly. I suppose they were his first cousins and sister."Very well. Clarisse?" Chiron turned to a big girl with piggy eyes and mean, but somewhat soft expression, but she shook her head."Sorry Chiron, but I agree with Prissy," she said. "Okay, Will?" Chiron turned to the boy that asked Jacob what he wasdoing here. The boy—will—also shook his head."Well…" Chiron looked around to the last two resorts. Travis and Conner Stoll. "Hell yeah!" they exclaimed, "This group's gonna need some people who are good at pick-pocketing, stealing and fun!" Travis added."And the lady's will need a man," Conner winked. The girl's blushed but Nico and Jacob shouted, "Hey!" "Relax, I'm kidding!" Conner laughed and also came and stood next to Lyra. Or was he closer to Sarina? Anyway, the eight of us faced Chiron. "I think I got myself a team," Lyra smiled hugely and looked pleadingly at Chiron. "Well, I suppose Nico, Travis and Conner have a bit of experience, so I'm guessing you'll do fine," Chiron nodded, "Very well, the eight of you will leave tomorrow at first light.""Yes!" we all shouted and Lyra hugged everyone, including Jacob, Nico and the Stolls. I smiled at her, even though, at this very moment, I feared for our lives.

**A/N**  
><strong> Make sure you read our Travis and Conner talk show, where the Stoll brothers interview your favorite gods and demigods (and others not in<strong>  
><strong>those catagory)!<strong>  
><strong>Review peeps!<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

MELL'S POV

Yeah, so I'm off on a quest with Lyra as the leader. Oh Goodie! (note the sarcasm). I was not going to let Lyra, Raine and Sarina have all the fun though. At least I have Nico. "You are all dismissed, except the campers going on the quest," Chiron said. "Bye," there were a lot of good-byes as the other head councillors made their way back over to their cabin to spread the news. "Okay," Chiron turned his attention back to us as everyone left. We all crowded around the Ping-Pong table. "You have all been chosen to go on this quest. You are probably wandering what this quest is about?" Chiron turned to the non head councillors. "Nah, they already know. Eavesdroppers!" Lyra laughed. "Snitch," Jacob muttered and Lyra punched him in the arm. "I would have been doing the same," she smiled back at Chiron, who nodded. "So what exactly are we looking for?" Nico asked and we all murmured in agreement. "A box," Chiron said seriously. "Oh no, Olympus will be destroyed by the most deadliest thing on the planet… a box!" Conner placed a hand over his mouth, mockingly.

"This is no joking matter Conner. It's what's in the box that matters," Chiron sighed. "What's in the box?" I asked curiously. "There is no time for that now! All I am allowed to tell you is that it must be delivered to Olympus by the winter solstice or it will be too late!" Chiron cried. "But… the winter solstice is in a week!" Sarina said. Chiron nodded sadly. "Umm… can we leave now? I'm t-t-tired!" Jacob yawned. "Yes, yes. Back to your cabins," Chiron waved us off. "But don't want to go back! Percy's going to give me this big lecture about… stuff," Sarina cried. Lyra, Raine and I guffawed, but the boy's only looked confused. I knew why. Over-protective brothers are so annoying! They give this massive lecture about dating and other things, then they completely go against their word! "What's the joke?" Travis asked. "Nothing, nothing," Lyra giggled, "Good night guys. See you in the morning!" "See you Lyra!" we all called and went our separate ways.


	12. Chapter 12

LYRA'S POV

Okay, new rule. Never sleep late when you're about to save the world.  
>I was woken up by Chiron, and told to wake up the others, since I was the leader. I drowsily got changed into some jeans and an inconspicuous-to-mortals<br>t-shirt, with green converse shoes and a gray hoodie. I grabbed my backpack that I had packed the night before, stuffed with this thing called ambrosia and a flask of nectar (no, not the butterfly food nectar), food of the gods. It helped you heal when you were injured, but too much of it will disintegrate you. I stepped out of my cabin to see a couple of dark clouds, threatening to rain. Don't ask how I knew this, but I knew that these clouds were cumulonimbus and roughly 47 743.5 feet above the ground and will rain at about 6:27am. I trudged over to the Poseidon cabin first, but turn out Sarina was already up, and so was Percy. I left Sarina to wake up Mell, Nico and Raine while I went to wake up the Stolls and Jake.  
>I silently dragged myself over to the Apollo cabin. It was bright and almost hard to look at in the sun, like the cabin seemed to be glowing. I opened the door an let myself in, trying my hardest not to wake anyone else up. I walked over to the bunk on my right, where Jake was sleeping soundly. I almost felt bad waking him from his peaceful sleep.<br>"Jacob? Jacob!" I whispered in his ear.  
>"Jake wake up!" I shook him when he didn't respond. He groaned and turned his back to me.<br>"Don't make me get the water," I warned, but still, Jacob ignored me. He thought I was joking? Fine, extra cold, just for him. I walked silently over to the bathroom and fetched a cup of water from the cold tap and crept back over to Jacob. I turned him over and turned the cup upside down over his face. Jacob shot up and shouted: "Where's the fire?"  
>"Shush!" I placed my tiny hand over his mouth, "You'll wake up the rest of your cabin. Hurry, it's time to go."<br>Jacob nodded and I let him go and get dressed. He came out of the bathroom wearing jeans and a Jason Derülo concert shirt.  
>"Ready?" Jacob asked.<br>"Well duh!" I laughed. "Oh and next time," I smiled at him, "wear a shirt to bed."  
>"What? Oh," Jacob blushed and looked down at his trainers. It's not like he looked bad without a shirt, the dude had a freaking six pack (my ADHD mind wondered if all the boys in this camp did). It was just that seeing him shirtless was a bit… awkward?<br>Together, Jake and I ran to the Hermes cabin to wake up Travis and Conner.  
>It took a whole ten minutes to get them both out of bed, which didn't include getting ready for the day.<br>After they had finally finished, we all walked up to the top of 'Half-Blood Hill', the hill with the massive pine tree that used to be my sister (long story).  
>Everyone was already up there, including people who wanted to say goodbye one more time. The people I knew were: Percy, Annabeth, Katie, Dean, some Aphrodite chick, Mr. D and Chiron. There was also some surfer dude, with blonde hair and tanned skin. The only weird thing about him was that he had eyes all over his body. I mean, on his palms, his wrists, up his arms, legs, face… everywhere.<br>"That's Argus," I heard Jacob whisper to me, "Our ride."  
>"Not weird at all," I murmured back and Jacob chuckled. I smiled at the surfer-dude named Argus and waved. He smiled a little and waved back.<br>"Are you all here?" Mr. D asked, "Fine. I suppose I should say good luck to you pests. Well, 'good luck!' you're going to need it."  
>"We will keep you in our prayers, but it is now time to leave, so in you get," Chiron said and everyone had a chance to say their final goodbye's as we boarded the big camp van.<br>Nico and Mell took the front seat, while the Stolls and Sarina at the back and Raine, Jacob and I in the middle, all squished together with me, being the smallest, in the center. Once we were all in, Argus, the all-eyed surfer dude, sped off.  
>"So where are we going?" I asked.<br>"Olympus," Argus muttered. Everyone looked around wildly.  
>"We're going to Olympus?" Raine asked, shocked.<br>"Yep, to get a council with the gods," Nico said.  
>"Been there, done that," the Stolls shrugged.<br>"You've been there?" I asked.  
>"During the second Titan War," Conner said grimly.<br>"Have you ever been there?" I asked Sarina, who shook her head.  
>"Just Nico and the Stolls," she sighed. I nodded and sat back in my seat. I looked to the others sitting next to me. Jacob was deep in thought and Raine was closing her eyes. I stared out the window just as it started to drizzle.<br>We sat in silence for about five minutes until Nico turned on the radio. We sang along to all the songs we knew and laughed when people in the cars next to us stared through the windows of the van. Jacob was a good singer, because he was a son of Apollo, and the rest of us just shouted the words to the song. It was fun until it started to pour and we had to close our windows. Argus turned a curb and parked in front of a building I knew. The Empire State Building. We all shuffled out of the van into the pouring rain and waved goodbye to Argus as he drove off. We stood in the rain for a while, a few of us wondering what was next.  
>"Come on guys," Nico walked into the Empire State. We followed hesitantly, but the Stolls and Nico looked like they knew where they were going. Nico walked confidently to the front desk.<br>"600th floor please," he said, which confused me. There's no 600th floor in the Empire State Building, is there?  
>"Sorry, kid. No 600th floor here," a man with an army style haircut and pin-striped suit said, but it sounded more like a speech he didn't believe.<br>"Look, eight demigods can attract an awful lot of attention with the monsters, so if you don't let us in, well, let's just say you'll have a tiny problem showing them to the door," Travis said angrily. The guy at the desk looked around nervously, then back at us. He handed Travis a card and whispered, "Swipe this in the elevator, and a new button will appear at the top."  
>"Thank you," Conner smiled cheekily and we walked over to the elevator. Travis swiped the card and, like the secretary said, a new button labelled '600' appeared.<br>"Brace yourselves," Nico mumbled as Travis pressed the button. I couldn't believe the music we were listening to! It was so old, I didn't even remeber what it was called! Suddenly, the elevator shot up at speeds I would never have thought possible. For an elevator at least. I grabbed onto the railing like everyone else and nearly fell when the elevator suddenly stopped. We all lumbered out and looked around, dazed. There it was: Olympus. It was so beautiful and magnificent that it was hard to describe. There were nymphs and satyrs running around everywhere, and a few girls on a stage, playing some music. There were also some other people, which I assumed was the minor gods and goddess.  
>Nico and the Stolls led the way through a lush green garden and into a big, dome-like building.<br>They led us through a long hallway and into a big room. Seated in the room were the twelve Olympians themselves. We rushed into the room, bowing to Zeus—Dad—first before bowing down to the other gods. We did not rise from our kneal until Dad said, "Arise, demigods."  
>"Father," I stepped forward, "You needed to speak with us?"<br>"Ah yes, hello Lyra," he smiled, but it was almost half-hearted.  
>"Hey Dad," I mumbled. Everyone walked up to their parents to hug them and start talking. Everyone except me, Nico and Mell.<br>"Why don't you go talk to your dad?" Nico asked.  
>"He's too intimidating," I shrugged. Nico and Mell nodded, obviously agreeing. Nico shrugged and walked over to his dad, who was some guy sitting in a thrown, pale as ever with greasy black hair and beady eyes. They started to talk seriously and nod and do other things men do during a conversation. Sarina was talking to her father and smiling. Raine was discussing something with Athena, and making hand gestures. Travis and Conner were talking excitedly with Hermes like old friends. Jacob was with his dad, probably talking about music and all these other Apollo-like things.<br>I turned to Mell, "Where's your mom?"  
>"Minor goddess," Mell shrugged, walking outside into the fresh air, probably sick of all this family love. As for me, I just stood and watched sadly, almost wistfully as my friends chattered away with their moms and dads. I sighed and sat down in a chair, waiting for the conversations to end. I must have zoned out because suddenly, there was a voice from in front of me.<br>"Lyra?" it asked. I looked up to see the 'almighty' Zeus looking down on me. I stood up and bowed down.  
>"Lord Zeus," I muttered.<br>"It's Dad to you," the voice sounded like it was smiling.  
>"Lord Dad," I muttered again. Zeus—Dad—laughed.<br>"No 'lord'. You may stop bowing now," Zeus said. I looked up and saw the face of my father smiling. This time it was whole-hearted. I stood warily and he asked, "So, how are you?"  
>"I'm fine. Just off on a quest that, if failed, can destroy Olympus and the world. But, no pressure," I shrugged. He chuckled.<br>"You are just like your mother," he sighed. I didn't know whether to be offended or not. After a minute of awkward silence, Zeus sighed and pulled something out of his pocket. It was a locket on a chain. The locket was oval and plain gold, with a flower on the front.  
>"This used to be your mother's," Zeus sighed.<br>"Then why do you have it?" I asked quizzically.  
>"You have not heard?" Zeus asked, shocked and confused at the same time.<br>"Heard what?" I asked. Zeus clicked his fingers and a newspaper appeared in front of us. I grabbed it and looked at the front cover. Our house. Except it wasn't our house. It was a dump. There was scaffolding everywhere, debris littered the ground. The headline took two minutes to read: FAMOUS SABRINA JETT AND DAUGHTER MISSING; HOUSE TRASHED. I blinked a few times. I don't know why, but tears found their way to my eyes. I quickly whiped them away, not wanting to show weakness in front of my father.  
>"Where is she?" I asked as I took the locket from Zeus.<br>"I don't know," Zeus shrugged. I nodded and swallowed, clipping the locket around my neck. I let it dangle behind my shirt.  
>"Anyway, we should probably explain this quest more thoroughy to you," Zeus said, changing the subject. "Everyone! Attention please!"<br>Everyone turned to us.  
>"I am going to explain your quest," Zeus continued calmly. "We are not meant to be allowed to interfere directly, but technically we're not. We can tell you where to go and what to do."<br>"Er, so where are we going?" Jacob asked.  
>"The Sea of Mosters," I think it was Poseidon who said that. Jacob and I looked at Poseidon blankly.<br>"The Bermuda Triangle!" Sarina gasped. I stared at her now.  
>"Seriously?" I heard Travis and Conner ask.<br>"Don't people like go exploring in there and never come back because of the monsters?" Mell asked, walking back into the room.  
>"Hence the name, the Sea of Monsters," a lady nodded to Mell. She had long black straight hair and eyes that kept changing color. From brown, to light green, to gold, to forest green and then back to brown. I realized I was looking at the face of Demeter. Demeter seemed to be staring angrily at Travis, who was trying his best not to notice, but he was basically blushing furiously and glancing nervously at the cracks on the floor, as if expecting something to pop out.<br>I cleared my throat, "So… how do we get to the sea of monsters?"  
>"You fly there," Dad laughed.<br>Sarina gulped, "F-fly?"  
>"Yes, my daughter should know how to handle the jet," Zeus smiled proudly at me.<br>"Jet?" Raine asked.  
>"Ah, yes. I assure Hephaestus and Hermes has already set one up for you?" Zeus placed a hand on my shoulder and looked over at Hermes and some dude standing awkwardly to the side.<br>"Yes, it will be ready when they are," Hermes shrugged. So did the other man.  
>"Nice," I mumbled.<br>"So, do we have supplies?" Jacob asked.  
>"Yep, I've loaded the ship with provisions, and don't worry, there's coke!" Hermes smiled and Travis, Conner, Nico and Jacob cheered.<br>"Boys," I snorted.  
>"When are we leaving?" Sarina asked.<br>"Now," Hades said.  
>"Now?" Nico looked around.<br>"Yep," is what I expected to be Apollo sighed.  
>"Be on your way," my father said tightly. We all nodded stiffly and walked out of the throne room. Hermes and some bulky dude followed. They led us around the big dome and into the elevator. The bulky dude's beard kept catching on fire and his overalls were greasy and creased. His hands kept building and rebuilding all these different contraptions.<br>"That's Hephaestus," Sarina muttered to Raine and I. We nodded and the man smiled a gruesome—but genuine— smile at us. I smiled back. Hermes pressed the ground button. Oldies music started playing again. Everyone groaned, including the two gods. We shot down and everyone grabbed onto the rails for support. We stumbled out after the gods.  
>"Where is it?" I asked, unconsciously rubbing my new locket.<br>"Right here," Hephaestus said in a gruff voice an led us around a sharp corner. 


	13. Chapter 13

SARINA'S POV

I felt like I was getting stretched. My stomach was churning and my head was spinning. It was as if I was being turned inside out. Suddenly it stopped, and I collapsed to the floor. A second later, my vision cleared.  
>"What… just happened?" I heard Jacob ask.<br>"We teleported," Hephaestus shrugged.  
>"That was pleasant," Mell muttered sarcastically.<br>"At least you're all here," Hermes pointed out.  
>"True," Lyra stood up and dusted herself off. I did too and looked around. We were on top of a building that had a jet on it. The private jet was black, sleek and small. There was a staircase to the door.<br>"This is it?" Raine asked excitedly.  
>"Beauty isn't she?" Hephaestus smiled proudly. "Built it meself."<br>"Really?" Lyra asked.  
>"Why do you sound surprised?" Mell asked.<br>"Because I am," Lyra shot back.  
>"Now, now children," Hermes smiled. "In you go!"<br>We climbed the metal steps to the door, which opened automatically for us. My mouth dropped open when we went inside. It was awesome! There were seats made out of what looked like real leather and tables with drinks and a plasma T.V.  
>"Woah!" Conner and Travis rushed for the remote and each grabbed a coke. Jacob followed close after, along with Nico. Raine moved to the back of the jet, where maps and GPS systems were flashing. Mell went into the bathroom. Lyra and I just stood there.<br>"So… Zeus said that Lyra knew how to fly a plane?" Hermes asked.  
>"Umm…" Lyra trailed off.<br>"Come on, I'll show you the controls," Hephaestus moved to the front of the jet, where the pilot and co-pilot would sit. Lyra gulped and scurried after him. Hermes and I stood there awkwardly. Suddenly, Hermes's phone buzzed. He took it out and I saw two snakes slithering up and down the satelite antennae.  
>"Umm… I gotta go. Duty calls," Hermes smiled. "Avert your gaze."<br>I did that as Hermes withheld his true form before disappearing. I went and sat with the boys, who were watching the baseball game. I grabbed a coke and stared at the T.V.  
>Our heads all snapped up when we saw Hephaestus walk down the aisle, his beard smoldering. He smiled at us.<br>"Good luck," he said before closing the door behind him. Our heads all snapped in the direction of our pilot: Lyra.  
>"Good morning campers, this is your captain Lyra speaking. Unfortunately we are running low on staff, so there's no one to show you where the bathroom is so look for it yourselves and don't pee on the seats," Lyra started, and everyone laughed, "or Hephaestus will kill us. If you have trouble putting on your seatbelts, get the person next to you to put it on for you. If they don't know how, then you're screwed. Please feel free to get up during the flight, but during take off or landing, I advise you keep seated or you'll go flying out the window. Life jackets should be under your seat but if not, steal someone else's. Anyway, enjoy your flight to the Sea of Monsters!" Lyra finished off. We all laughed and cheered. Lyra chuckled and flipped a switch above her head. Immediately, the seatbelt sign flashed above us. Nearly everyone who hadn't travelled before had trouble with their seatbelts. Including me. I have never been on an aircraft of any sort before because Zeus would blast me out of the sky. That's why I was so nervous and terrified at the moment.<br>"Sarina? You don't look too good," Conner observed. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Conner did my seatbelt for me and looked at me worriedly.  
>"Are you okay?" he asked.<br>"I… I'm fine," I stuttered. He raised an eyebrow.  
>"Is it flying?" he asked.<br>"No… yeah," I sighed.  
>"It's okay. We're all here. And Zeus wouldn't blast us out of the sky because his precious little daughter's the pilot," Conner said.<br>"I heard that Conner!" Lyra laughed from the front. At least it wasn't on the microphone. Conner laughed.  
>"Daddy's girl!" Jacob shouted. Lyra coughed.<br>"Okay, get ready for take off!" Lyra said on the microphone. Suddenly, the jet started moving. Luckily this building had a wide roof. Lyra was flipping switches and doing all of this mechanical stuff. The jet started gaining speed. Soon we were travelling super fast, so we all gripped our armrests super tight. Lyra was gripping the controls almost as tightly. Suddenly we were off this ground. My breath caught in my throat as we ascended. Lyra looked like she was in control, but I still thought we were going to die. The jet kept rising until all the buildings below looked like small lego pieces. Soon, the jet levelled out.  
>"Well," Lyra said through the microphone, "We're not dead yet. That's a good sign!"<br>We laughed again. This was going to be a long ride.  
>"Does anyone else know how to fly a plane?" Lyra asked through the microphone attached to her headphones.<br>"Umm…" everyone started to say.  
>"I sort of do," everyone's eyes fell on Jacob.<br>"Huh? How?" Travis asked.  
>"My uncle's a pilot too. He taught me a few things when I was little," Jacob shrugged.<br>"Well don't just sit there! Come help me," Lyra said without the microphone. Jake sighed and walked up the aisle towards Lyra. He sat in the co-pilot's chair and put on another pair of headphones. They both lifted their microphones so that we couldn't hear their conversations. Jake flipped a few switches, pressed a few bottons and did a few things before putting his hands on his wheel. I breathed in a deep breath and the seatbelt sign turned off. Immediately Travis and Conner got up and started exploring the jet while Raine got out of her seat and went back to the maps. Mell and Nico were conversing about some kind of sword while I sat around and bid my time concentrating on anything but the window. I looked at the T.V and saw that the baseball game was still in progress. I sighed and changed the chanel. Spongebob; Wizards of Waverly Place; reruns of some old show; and heaps of other boring things. I sighed again and turned the T.V off. I stared at my watch: 1:34pm. I groaned and stood up, stretching out my limbs. I moved to the back of the jet, where Raine was scanning all the maps and plans.  
>"Whatcha doin?" I asked. Raine looked up and smiled.<br>"Oh, I'm just looking at the layout plans of the aircraft. The interior angles are designed so that the contours—"  
>"Don't talk Athena to me," I laughed. Raine blushed but laughed too.<br>"So… what are you doing?" Raine asked.  
>"Nothing really. I don't like heights so this is kind of uncomfortable for me," I shrugged.<br>"Oh."  
>"Mm-hmm," I nodded and shifted my weight onto my left foot.<br>"I'm going to steal some maps, just in case," Raine said devillishly and folded one or two or five maps and put them in her satchel. I rolled my eyes at her.  
>"I might hit the sack now, so good night!" I said.<br>"Good night? You're sleeping? It's like… 1:35pm!" Raine sighed, exasperated.  
>"I'm tired!" I raised my hands and walked back over to my seat. Lucky for me, it leaned back. I leaned it back a little and drifted into a comfortable (or as comfortable as you can get while sitting in an airplane chair) and uneasy sleep.<p>

I woke up to the sound of alarms blaring. I shot out of my chair and looked around. I thought that maybe the Stolls set them off on purpose, but I saw Lyra and Jake battling it out with the wheels and everbody buckling up and gripping the airmrests for their life.  
>"Get down!" Conner grabbed my arm and yanked me back into my seat. Conner buckled me up quickly and speedily.<br>"What's going on?" I called over the engine noise.  
>"Haven't you seen outside? Look!" Travis pointed towards the window. I hesitantly looked out and got scared out of my wits. Outside, the biggest thunderstorm I'd ever seen was brewing. The clouds were so black, I couldn't tell if it was still daytime. Lightning caused false daylight, revealing the churning ocean below.<br>"We're experiencing turbulence!" Conner shouted.  
>"I figured," I muttered to myself. Papers started flying around the inside of the jet, smacking us in the face. I looked over and saw Lyra and Jake yanking at the wheels and pushing random buttons and flipping switches. Everyone (including Mell and Nico) screamed as we were jerked to the side. Lyra had a frantic look in her eye as she quickly steadied the jet. We spun through the air, almost getting struck by lightning.<br>"LYRA!" I called to her.  
>"WHAT!" she shouted back. I unclipped my seatbelt, but Conner grabbed my hand.<br>"Are you crazy! What the Hades are you doing!" he demanded.  
>"Let go of me Conner! I have to speak with the pilot!" I told him. He gave me a frantic look before releasing his grip of my hand. I shot towards the front of the jet.<br>"Lyra!" I shouted when I was next to her.  
>"Are you mad Sarina! Sit down!" she ordered, but I ignored her.<br>"We're never going to make it! We're going to have to abandon the jet!" I said.  
>"What?" Lyra looked up at me, her blue eyes frightened, yet determined at the same time.<br>"Trust me!" I said.  
>"Sarina, I—" but she was cut short as lightning flashed and the loudest clap of thunder ever heard in the history of the universe was heard. It shook the jet, and I would've tumbled backwards if I hadn't grabbed onto Lyra's seat in time.<br>"Oh shit," Jacob muttered. I looked at what he was looking at. The back of the jet just caught fire.  
>"Everybody hold on!" Lyra called through the microphone. Everbody screamed.<br>Suddenly, we were spiralling towards the sea below.

LYRA'S POV  
>"AAAAH! GEEZ JET! FLY FASTER!"<p>

JACOB'S POV  
>"AARGH! OH COME ON! I HAVE TO PROTECT— AARGH!"<p>

RAINE'S POV  
>"AAAAAAAAAH!"<p>

CONNER'S POV  
>"WE'RE GONNA DIE!"<p>

MELL'S POV  
>"OH YOU'RE A SHARP ONE! WE'RE SPIRALLING A HUNDRED METRES TOWARDS THE DAMN OCEAN AND WE'RE PLANNING ON HAVING A BLOODY PICNIC!"<p>

TRAVIS' POV  
>"YOU'RE SUCH A PESSIMIST! WE ARE GONNA DIE WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!"<br>"TRAVIS! I HAVE TO TELL YOU SOMETHING BEFORE WE DIE!" Conner shouted. "I LOVE YOU! YOU'RE LIKE A BROTHER TO ME!"  
>"THERE'S SOMETHING I HAVE TO TELL YOU TOO!" I shouted back. "I BROKE YOUR IPOD!"<br>"Oh, that's— WAIT WHAT!" Conner asked.  
>"AARGH!"<br>"IF WE LIVE THROUGH THIS, I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" my brother screamed in my face.  
>"WELL WHAT WOULD THE GOOD BE IN THAT? AT LEAST KILL ME FIRST SO I'LL FEEL NO PAIN!"<p>

NICO'S POV  
>"THAT MAKES NO FREAKING SENSE TRAVIS!"<p>

CONNER'S POV  
>"SARINA, I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING BEFORE WE DIE!" I shouted.<br>"NOT NOW CONNER! I'M A LITTLE BUSY!" Sarina shouted back, obvious annoyance painted on her face.  
>"Oh… okay," I sighed, then remembered about the screaming.<br>"AAAAAAH!" I joined in with everyone else.

RAINE'S POV  
>"We have to get out now!" I panted.<br>"No kidding!" Mell shouted to me over the noise.

SARINA'S POV

Everyone had a point there, except maybe Travis. We were out of time. Lyra and Jake were pulling at the wheels in vain. We were going to die, but I sure ain't gonna like it.  
>"Lyra, you have to listen to me!" I cried. She gave me a desperate look that lasted a millisecond before nodding once.<br>"EVERYBODY LISTEN UP!" I called, and everyone's head snapped towards me, "We're going to have to jump! Grab your bags and on the count of three, you all get the Hades out of here!" I shouted.  
>"Are you insane!" Conner shouted.<br>"Maybe, but desperate times call for desperate measures! Grab your stuff!" I shouted back. Everybody followed instructions. They unbuckled their seatbelts and grabbed their things.  
>"Lyra and Jake, you too!" I called to them. They both looked at me with small expressions. I realized what they were going to do. They were going to try to give us enough time to jump.<br>"No!" I shouted to them.  
>"ONE!" Raine shouted. We were getting closer to the water's surface.<br>"TWO!" Mell called. We all held hands as Lyra opened the doors for us. I gave them one last, pleading look before silently praying to the gods to spare them. This plan could work, but it was risky and had a ninety nine percent chance of them not surviving. I saw Lyra's tear-stained face for one last time.  
>"Three…" I whispered. Everybody jumped for the ocean. I used my water powers to give us a safe landing. We all splashed into the water anyway. I had no time to will myself to stay dry, so of course, I felt the ice water seep through my clothes and cling to my skin. I burst out of the water just in time to see the jet crash into the ocean a few metres away. The waves hit me like trains. I was pushed far back hard and fast. I tumbled under the waves and got water in my nose. I was pushed further down. Lucky I could breath, otherwise I never would have made it. I pushed towards the water's surface. I gasped for air as I broke through. Sure, I could breath underwater, but it was still an uncomfortable feeling for me. I looked around frantically and saw everybody else either breaking the water's surface or already coughing and spluttering. I swam towards everyone and we huddled together. We all did a head count about three times before it dawned on us:<br>our pilot and co were not among us.


	14. Chapter 14

RAINE'S POV

Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no! How could I have been so stupid! If course this would happen! Of course Lyra would sacrifice herself for us. And Jacob. What about him? He wasn't here either.  
>I looked around frantically, hoping in vain to see them both swimming towards us with a smile plastered on their faces. I saw everybody else's dumbfounded expression. Sarina and I were crying, Mell was trying her best to keep it together, but her face told differently. Nico and the Stolls were shocked and their mouths were agape with horror.<br>"Where's… where's Lyra and Jacob?" Conner asked. Sarina kicked him underwater and looked up.  
>"I'm going to go find them," her voice cracked in several places.<br>"Sarina—" Conner tried to object, but Sarina had already disappeared under the churning waters. We all huddled together to try keep warm, but everything was cold and cruel. The waves slapped against our compressed bodies and the salt burned my throat. My tears mingled in with the sea drops.  
>Minutes passed and Sarina still wasn't back yet. Seconds started feeling like days and my heart kept getting heavier and heavier. I sobbed nonstop. Mell, Nico, Conner and Travis tried to comfort me, but they were all just as crestfallen. We waited another minute. Suddenly, Sarina's head popped out of the water. She still looked worried, but it was less now. Just then, Lyra shot out. She gasped for air and coughed hoarsely. Everyone hugged her, including Mell. Just then, Lyra groaned and heaved something up. It was Jacob. Oh my gods, I had forgotten all about him! Something wasn't right about him though. His skin was sickly pale, his face was cut in two places, his lip was split, his neck was bruised, and his eyes were closed. I gasped, along with everyone else.<br>"What happened to him?" Nico asked.  
>"Just get us to land," Lyra whispered harshly. Everyone nodded vigorously and turned to Sarina. The boys tried to take Jacob off Lyra, but she wouldn't let them. She placed Jacob's arm over her shoulder and supported him around the waist.<br>"Sarina, where's the nearest stretch of land?" I asked Sarina, while standing— floating—next to Lyra.  
>"Not far. About four hundred meters," Sarina shrugged. We all nodded. Rain was still pelting down, but the lightning and thunder had subsided.<br>"Come on, I'll speed us along the way," Sarina said. We started speeding really fast through the water. Lyra was still struggling at the back.  
>"Here, Lyra, let me help you," Travis tried to convince Lyra.<br>"No!" she said stubbornly, "I—I have to do this. On my own."  
>I didn't know what she was going on about, but I left her in peace.<p>

We swam for about another five minutes against the current until we all finally collapsed on a white sandy beach.  
>Everyone stood up shakily except Conner, who was breathing heavily and coughing out gallons of salt water. We crowded around him.<br>"Travis," he croaked. Travis rushed forward and knelt down next to him.  
>"Are you okay bro?" he asked, his voice full of concern when Conner coughed again. Water sprayed out of his mouth and onto the sand.<br>"Come closer," Conner whispered hoarsely. Travis moved a little closer.  
>"Closer," Conner insisted. Travis leaned closer.<br>"I said closer you idiot!" Conner croaked with annoyance. Travis bent down so that his face was right in front of Conner's. Conner suddenly spat sea water at Travis' face and slapped him on the back of the head.  
>"What the Hades was that for?" Travis asked.<br>"That was for breaking my iPod," Conner said perfectly normal. Travis smiled and hauled Conner up and hugged him. We all laughed a little before turning our attention to Sarina, who was helping Lyra drag a beaten-up looking Jacob onto the sand. 


	15. Chapter 15

SARINA'S POV

For once, we were lucky the Stolls were with us. They were actually a big help when it came to camping. They made a fire and had a huge canteen full of nectar and ambrosia. Lyra stole some off them and fed it to Jacob. The color slowly returned to Jake's cheeks and some of his scars healed up. Raine helped Lyra clean the dry blood off Jake's face and arms. Mell and the Stolls passed out on their sleeping bags and Nico wasn't far after, as was Raine. I sat across the fire from Lyra and Jacob, who was now just sleeping. I stood up and walked over to the troubled daughter of Zeus.  
>"Hey," I whispered.<br>"Hey," she whispered back.  
>"Rough day, huh?"<br>"You have no idea," Lyra sighed. She's probably right.  
>"So… you gonna tell me what happened down there? I mean, how did Jake get all of those scars and why was he unconscious?" I asked. Lyra hesitated before replying slowly.<br>"When Jake first came to fly with me, we just talked. Just talked about little things like what we wanted to be when we grew up. He wanted—wants—to be a song-writer. I told him that he already is, but he wanted to make it to the big city. I told him he was fine where he was, but he was determined to write songs that the whole world could hear. He then asked me what I wanted to be. I told him that I wanted to be happy—just happy. He told me that I didn't understand the question, and I answered and said that he didn't understand life." she laughed a small laugh and glanced down at Jacob, who sighed in his sleep. The smile melted of Lyra's face until it was left expressionless.  
>"It happened just after you jumped. One of the metal beams from somewhere swung out of nowhere. It was coming right at me. I… I would have been dead right now if it wasn't for Jake," Lyra choked. "He pushed me out of the way just in time. The beam caught him in the stomach, and sent him flying to the other side of the jet.<br>"He hit his head on the bookshelf and he fell unconscious. That's when we hit the water. We were sinking fast and there was no way we were going to survive that much water pressure. I grabbed Jacob and started to swim, but the doors were jammed. I had to stab a window for us to get out.  
>"I made it through unscathed, but Jacob wasn't so lucky. I'm glad that he didn't bleed to death."<br>Lyra had tears in her eyes, "I always hated glass."  
>"It's okay. He's safe. Everyone's fine. We'll all be okay. You're a great leader," I smiled.<br>"I used to think that too, but now I'm not so sure," Lyra sighed. Before I could object, she pulled the sleeping bag over her shoulders.  
>"Goodnight Lyra," I sighed.<br>"Should I keep watch?" she asked.  
>"No, you sleep," I said firmly.<br>"But… fine," Lyra sighed and turned her back towards me. I stared at the crackling flames and listened as Lyra hummed a song I didn't know to herself. Soon, the humming stopped, and I looked down to see Lyra sleeping peacefully in her sleeping bag, her face tired and worn.  
>"Goodnight Lyra," I sighed and waited for the night to pass.<br>Nico woke up in the middle of the night and took over watchman. I snuggled up in my sleeping bag and drifted off into a restless sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

MELL'S POV

Okay, I admit, I was scared when Lyra and Jacob didn't resurface with us. Raine burst into tears and the boys all looked forlorn and sad. Sarina disappeared under the ocean and saved them, but we were all still shaken. We finally crashed on the beach after swimming for about a million miles.

When I woke up, I saw Nico, Raine and Jacob sitting and talking. Lyra and Sarina were still sleeping in their sleeping bags. I walked over to the group.  
>"Good morning guys. Hey Jake, how ya feeling?" I asked as I sat next to Nico.<br>"Alright I guess. Face healed up okay," Jake traced a faint scar on his left cheek. The other scar across his forehead had disappeared completely.  
>"This cut was deeper, so it might take a week or so to disappear," Jacob shrugged. For the first time, I noticed that Travis and Conner were missing.<br>"Umm… where are the Stolls?" I asked nervously.  
>"They're right—" Raine was about to point to empty sleeping bags when she noticed that they were unoccupied.<br>"Crap!" I shouted and stood up. Lyra shot out of her sleeping bag.  
>"What happened?" she asked, then saw Jake. Her face twisted from joy, to guilt, to worry, to stressful, and then back to happy. A wide smile spread across her face. She got up and walked over and hugged each one of us.<br>"You survived!" she smiled at Jacob.  
>"Duh," he rolled his eyes, but smiled too.<br>"So what is the problem?" Lyra asked after a while.  
>"The Stolls are missing," Nico sighed, as if this was no suprise.<br>"Probably scouting," Jake shrugged. Lyra nodded seriously.  
>"We shouldn't leave. They might come back and find us all missing," Raine said wisely.<br>"Good idea," I nodded.  
>"Let's IM them," Nico suggested. Lyra looked at him in confusion.<br>"Instant messaging won't work without WiFi," she said.  
>"No duh-brain. Iris Messaging. We're going to Iris Message them," I sighed in annoyance.<br>"Sorry Miss I-Know-Everything-And-If-You-Defy-That-You-Suck-Like-Lollipops," Lyra muttered. Everyone stared at her in bemusement.  
>"She has a point," Jacob finally said. I shot him a glare, which shut him up, and Nico stood and went and fetched a drachma from his duffel bag. We found a rainbow and made an offering to the goddess Iris.<br>"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept our offering," Nico through the coin into the rainbow. The drachma dissolved into thin air. Lyra and Raine watched with enthusiasm and amazement.  
>"Show us Travis and Conner Stoll," Nico and the rest of us didn't really know where we were so we couldn't give a location. The mist shifted and swirled until we saw the Stolls hiding behind a bush.<br>"Guys?" the asked in unison.  
>"What the hell do you think you're doing!" I exclaimed.<br>"We were scouting," Travis shrugged. Jacob smiled in satisfaction and Lyra grudgingly tossed him a drachma. Must of bet on it.  
>"Where are you?" Sarina walked over. She was awake now, and angry.<br>"We… found something," Conner said slowly. "We'll come and get you. Wait where you are."  
>Travis swiped a hand through the mist and the Iris Message was finished.<br>"Subtle," Raine nodded. We waited in utter silence as the Stolls finally came back.  
>"We… found… something," Travis panted.<br>"What?" I asked.  
>"A resort," Conner swallowed and straightened up.<br>"A resort?" Nico asked, shocked. "In the middle of nowhere?"  
>"That's what we were thinking," Travis said, "but we didn't dare go any closer."<br>"Let's go check it out," Jacob said, enthusiasm oozing off him.  
>"I… I don't think we—" Lyra started to say.<br>"What? Why not?" Jacob whined.  
>"It's just… not normal," Lyra shuddered.<br>"We saw people!" Conner put in.  
>"Dead people?" Raine joked.<br>"Nah, that's Nico's job," Travis smiled. Nico frowned at him.  
>"How many?" I changed the subject.<br>"A lot. Girls were baking at the front. I'm guessing the guys were either in the back or at the bar," Travis shrugged.  
>"Well…" Lyra shifted her weight from foot to foot and started fiddling with her lighter.<br>"Please!" Jacob got on his knees and clasped his hands together and shook them; showing a sign of begging.  
>"Fine, but I still don't think it's a good idea," Lyra warned.<br>"Yes!" the boys pumped their fists.  
>"Come on guys, this way," Conner and Travis disappeared back into the forest. We hurried after.<br>When we finally got to the resort, it looked deserted. There were no girls here, or any sign of them ever being. But it was a resort I guess.  
>"Well, come on! Let's go!" Jacob said.<br>"Wait," Lyra held him back. "Where are the girls?"  
>"I swear they were here when we came," Conner said confidently.<br>"Oh, I see someone inside!" Nico whispered. We all crouched behind a rock. A figure was moving inside.  
>"Children?" it was a woman. She was pretty, wearing a long black halter neck dress. She had pale skin, red lips and green eyes. Her hair was long and silky black, tumbling down to her butt.<br>"Children, I know you're here," she said in a calm, collected voice.  
>"We should go—" Lyra was whispering something, but the lady spotted us.<br>"Ah! Hello children! How nice of you to visit us!" she smiled widely.  
>"Umm…" we all looked at eachother.<br>"Oh, you poor dears. You look exhausted! Come in, come in! There's plenty of resources here that you could use!" the lady smiled sympathetically. I glared at her.  
>"Come on, follow C.C!" the woman chided and walked away.<br>"I guess it couldn't hurt," Raine muttered. Of course it could, but we were tired, hungry and sore from sleeping on the ground. I kept a hand on my bow-bracelet, just in case. But the longer we walked through the resort, the more I forgot about it. Inside the spa was amazing. There was white, polished marble and crystal clear water everywhere! Terraces climbed up the side of the mountain, with swimming pools on every level, connected by waterslides, waterfalls and underwater tubes you could swim through. Fountains sprayed water, making impossible shapes in the air. There were animals everywhere, including turtles and leopards. As far as I could see, there were no guests anywhere. Probably enjoying a treatment, or in their own pool.  
>"Now children," the lady said, "My name is C.C. I own this resort. Anyway let's see what you need… hmm…" she tapped her chin. "What about a herbal wrap for the ladies and a complete makeover for the gentlemen?"<br>"Umm… sure?" Lyra's brow furrowed. She probably had no idea what a herbal wrap was. Neither did I.  
>"Exellent! Drina!" C.C clapped her hands twice. A lady came rushing into the room. She was wearing a navy blouse, matching skirt and had pale skin. She was wearing too much makeup and had a tight blonde bun on her head and glasses perched on her nose.<br>"Yes, C.C?" she asked.  
>"Please take these lovely ladies for their herbal wrap, while I take these young gentlemen for their treatments," C.C smiled again.<br>"Right away C.C. Come on girls," the lady smiled at us. We glanced back at the boys one last time before following after the lady for our treatments. Boy, was that the worst mistake we ever made.  
>The lady led us through corridors with beautifully painted walls. She led us to a room and immediately people grabbed us. We yelled and thrashed and screamed as people started dropping hot water over our heads. I couldn't see what was going on, let alone the others. I felt someone tug at my bow and immediately elbowed back. A lady cried in pain.<br>"Now, now girls. Just relax. We'll be done soon!" the lady that brought us here—Drina—smiled. I found it was useless to struggle and stopped. The ladies around me quickly stripped me of everything while I closed my eyes and prayed. The other girls stopped struggling and let the ladies do their work.  
>After about fifteen minutes, we were done.<br>"There, all finished," Drina smiled. I looked down at myself. I was wearing a long black floor length dress that was tight fitting and strapless. I looked over at the other girls and saw that they were wearing the same thing except in different colors. Lyra: midnight blue, Sarina: sea green, and Raine: gray.  
>"Here you go ladies," Drina clicked her fingers and the others pushed in long mirrors that we could see ourselves in. I gasped. I was different. I wasn't me. I had MAKE-UP on! What is this world coming to! My mouth formed a perfect 'o' as I stared at myself. I looked over at the others to see them with a similar expression. Lyra's hair was hanging down limply, her chocolate brown hair now perfectly straight, extremely long, with a gold laurel wreath on her head like a crown. Raine's hair was curled like a princess and was hanging over her shoulders. Sarina's hair was braided into a long black braid, with golden feathers grafted in with them. My lank hair had a big black flower tucked behind my ear. I had to admit, we all looked stunning. I looked over at Lyra again to see that she looked a little frightened. She touched her porcelene face and her bottom lip quivered.<br>"Lyra?" I asked. Her head snapped towards me. She gulped.  
>"I'm w-wearing ma-make-up," she stuttered. I nearly burst out laughing.<br>"So?" Sarina asked, playing with her braid.  
>"I-I… nevermind," Lyra sighed and turned to Drina. "Now what?"<br>"Follow me dears. C.C will be extremely pleased with our work," Drina smiled and led us away, through a different corridor and into a black-painted room. There was white furniture everywhere and mirrors lined the walls, making the room look never-ending. Tapestries hung limply on the walls, beautiful and realistic. Moving. Alive.  
>"C.C?" Drina called.<br>"I'm here!" C.C popped up from the couch. "Ah, lovely. You girls look beautiful! Yes, yes, very nice!"  
>"Thank you miss C.C," Raine said politely.<br>"Umm… excuse me miss C.C, but where are the boys?" Lyra asked and Sarina nodded in agreement.  
>"Just having one of our treatments dear," C.C smiled. Lyra nodded, uneasy. I didn't know what was wrong with her.<br>"Is there something wrong, dear?" C.C asked.  
>"I don't know. This place… it seems wrong," Lyra shuddered.<br>"It is probably the magic, dear," C.C smiled.  
>"Magic?" Sarina asked.<br>"Yes, I am a sorceress after all," C.C shrugged her slender shoulders. We all took a step back.  
>"Sorceress?" Raine asked.<br>"Yes my dear," C.C held up her hand. A small flame appeared in her palm and carressed each of her fingertips. "My mother is Hecate, goddess of magic. I know demigods when I see them. Let us see… Zeus, Athena, Poseidon and… Nyx!" C.C smiled happily, pointing to each one of us with our respective parent.  
>"We are not all different, we all seek a dream. Sarina, you could be free from all your worries. Imeldes, you can recieve the respect and power you seek. Raine, you can seek the knowledge you wish and Lyra, you can finally be happy, and never bear hardships again," C.C said. We all straightened up as the sorceress said each of our names. We didn't tell her anything about us, or our desires.<br>"We can recieve none of this in the shadow of men," C.C continued.  
>"I-I don't understand," Lyra backed away even more.<br>"Stay with me," C.C explained. "Join our staff. Become a sorceress. Learn to bend others to do your will. You shall become immortal!"  
>"But—" Sarina started.<br>"Think, child. The only way for a woman to obtain power is sorcery. Medea, for instance. Calypso to an extent! They were powerful women—" C.C started.  
>"Until Percy broke up with her," Lyra muttered. C.C heard that.<br>"The Jackson boy?" she seethed. Sarina straightened up again. C.C calmed down.  
>"I, too, am a powerful sorceress. Perhaps the most powerful of them all!" C.C continued. Raine thought for a moment.<br>"You… C.C… Circe!" Raine exclaimed.  
>"Yes, my dear."<br>We basically backed up a few more paces.  
>"No need to be afraid children. I mean you no harm," Circe laughed.<br>"What have you done with the boys!" Lyra asked.  
>"Only helped them realize their true forms."<br>Our eyes scanned the room until they finally fell on the small barb-wired cage off to the side.


	17. Chapter 17

LYRA'S POV

My eyes went wide as I stared at the four guinea pigs running in circles and squealing and screeching. They were all banging into the bars of the cage, trying to escape or knock the cage down.  
>"Forget them. They are useless," Circe bribed, "Come with—"<br>"NO!" I shouted abruptly. Anger chorused through my veins. Who did this woman think she was, stealing my friends away from me?  
>"No?" C.C sounded confused.<br>"You heard me!" I seethed. "Let. The. Boys. Go."  
>"Why would I do that?" Circe asked innocently. I drew my lighterdagger, but Circe saw it coming. She snapped her fingers and ropes shot out and latched themselves to my wrists. I struggled against the binds. Circe laughed.  
>"Lyra!" Raine shouted. "Catch!" Raine tossed something through the air. It was small and yellow. I jumped up and caught it in my mouth. Lemon flavor. I chewed on it.<br>"No!" Circe shouted. I took the chance and cut the ropes binding me. Raine chucked a vitamin at Mell. Mell caught it and shoved it into her mouth. Before Raine could throw one to Sarina, Circe shot an invisible force at the daughter of Poseidon. Sarina choked and held her throat as she was lifted into the air.  
>"Nobody moves, or she dies," Circe threatened. There was a particular screeching from a chestnut guinea pig coming from inside the guinea pig cage. Sarina was trying not to look panicked, but her eyes told differently. I felt anger take over once more. Thunder boomed overhead. I heard heavy rain patter against the terraces. Lightning struck the building causing a huge crater in the floor right next to Circe. She squealed and lost concentration. Sarina dropped to the floor, gasping for air. Mell ran over to her, helping Sarina to her feet.<br>"Raine, go grab our stuff!" I shouted to Raine, who nodded and chucked a jar of red and yellow vitamins to me. I caught it quickly and rushed over to the barb-wire cage, opening the latch and pouring the rest of the vitamins in. The guinea pigs immediately started chewing on the vitamins and started to grow bigger. Soon, four very troubled looking half-bloods burst through the cage. I watched as Raine pole vaulted over Drina's head and rolled into the corridor. It was pretty impressive in a dress.  
>"Lyra!" Jacob called. I looked back over to the boys. They were all dusting hay out of their tousled hair. I hugged each one of them.<br>"I'm glad you're not guinea pigs," I said.  
>"Me too," Travis brushed hay off his shirt. Mell was dodging past spells cast from Circe and Drina.<br>"Are you just gonna stand there?" she shouted.  
>"Mell! Get to the docks!" Sarina shouted to Mell, who nodded. We raced out after Sarina and Mell. My neck felt bare without my locket. Jacob looked at me sympathetically, but I just smiled weakly at him. I heard Raine cry out from behind us. I stopped running and turned around to see Circe running after Raine, whose hands were full with everyone's bags. Circe shot Raine with a curse. I cried out, but as the black mist dissolved, Raine was still in one piece.<br>"Curse those stupid multi-vitamins!" Circe shreaked.  
>"Lyra! Raine! Come on!" Nico shouted to us. They were standing on the deck of a three mast ship. I stared at them in confusion. Suddenly, something gold caught my eye. I watched in slow motion as my locket fell out of my bag and landed at Circe's feet. Circe picked it up. I saw red.<br>"LYRA! NO!" I heard Jake shout, but it was too late. I lunged at the sorceress. She laughed and shot a binding curse at me. I felt my arms and legs constrict as I fell to my knees before her.  
>"Not so tough without immunity to magic now are you, daughter of Zeus?" Circe cackled. I glared at her as she twirled my locket in her fingers.<br>"I think I would like to kill you first," she smiled contently and raised her hand. "A warning to your little friends."  
>A ball of black energy appeared on her palm. I closed my eyes and waited for the worst, but it never came. I opened my eyes again to see Circe staring at me and the ship with wide eyes. Protruding out of her left side of her chest were three of the same arrow. The binding charm lifted off me.<br>"This is impossible," Circe muttered as she fell to the ground. I grabbed my locket from her and looked back to see Jacob holding out his bow in front of him. He had an angry expression on his face.  
>"We're even," he smiled. I smiled back and ran back over to them.<br>"Finally!" Sarina said and immediately the boat started moving forward, but not before Sarina muttered some random jibberish and the boat did all this fancy stuff like tighten its own ropes and hoisting the anchor and opening the sails. We sailed away from C.C's Spa and Resort at record time for a ship.  
>"How are we going to make sure no one else ever goes or escapes from there?" I asked to no one in general.<br>"Already taken care of," Travis smiled.  
>"What?" I asked.<br>"Look," Conner pointed to the direction of the island. "Three, two, one…"  
>Right on cue, the resort blew up. I could feel the heat waves from here.<br>Then it finally hit me.  
>"You blew up a resort," I said to Conner slowly.<br>"So? All in a days work," Conner shrugged.  
>"You blow up resorts all the time?" Raine asked skeptically.<br>"Well… no, not always resorts. We blew up a house once, a school, a playground, a Walmart factory—oh man do you remember that!" Conner turned to Travis.  
>"Oh dude! That was so-"<br>"Awesome! Remember that guy?"  
>"Oh, with that hair and the mango and kumquat smoothie?"<br>"Oh man, that was priceless!"  
>"And that-"<br>"Place with that thing and-"  
>"Those people!"<br>At that the Stolls burts out laughing.  
>"Umm… what?" Jacob asked. Nico shrugged like they did that all the time.<br>"Ookay…" Mell trailed off.  
>"Guys, where are we going?" Raine asked, spreading out a map on the deck.<br>"Bring the map here," Sarina said from the wheel. Raine moved over to her, both of them studying the map.  
>"Wait!" I cried, "What about the mortals?"<br>"You mean the girls?" Travis asked.  
>"We didn't blow up their huts or anything," Conner shrugged. I nodded. It finally dawned on me that we were in a ship on the ocean. I started swaying a little before running downstairs. I collapsed on one of the hammocks. My hair was still perfectly in place, as was my dress. Stupid magic. I buried my head in the pillow. I groaned as the boat swayed again. I heard a creaking of wood from next to me, but I didn't look up.<br>"You okay?" I heard Jacob ask. I groaned in response. I could almost see the smirk spreading across his face.  
>"You don't like ships?" he asked.<br>"I feel sick," my voice was muffled my the pillow. "Especially with Sarina driving."  
>Jake chuckled, "Then get some rest, you won't feel anything."<br>"How would you know?"  
>"I'm a child of Apollo, I know this stuff," Jake shrugged. I nodded and turned on my back.<br>"Thanks about today," I said.  
>"No worries. We're even," Jake smiled.<br>"Even?" I asked.  
>"You saved me when we were in the jet," Jake pointed out. "And at C.C's"<br>"Technically, Sarina and Raine did."  
>"Not really."<br>"Shut up and let me sleep," I muttered.  
>"I'll leave you to it then," Jake laughed and I closed my eyes. I didn't hear him go up because I was already in dreamland. <p>


	18. Chapter 18

RAINE'S POV

I watched as Lyra moved under deck. She didn't look too good. Jacob sighed and followed close after her. I turned back to Sarina.  
>"So basically we're lost," I said.<br>"Well, no. I know the latitude we're at. The co-ordination even. We should be there soon," Sarina said.  
>"So where are we exactly?" I asked.<br>"No idea."  
>"Fair enough," I nodded and sat back against the mast. Jacob came up a few minutes later.<br>"Ooh, what happened down there?" Conner wiggled his eyesbrows. Jake blushed and shoved him.  
>"How is she?" I asked.<br>"She's just a little seasick. Just sleeping now. Fell asleep straight away," Jacob said and flopped down opposite me. His eyes were rimmed and he had large dark circles under his eyes. His face was ghastly and his hair was messy.  
>"You don't look too great yourself," I pointed out.<br>"Gee, thanks," Jake smiled.  
>"No, I meant you look like you haven't slept in a week," I said. Jake shrugged.<br>"Used to it," he said.  
>"Maybe you should sleep as well," I said.<br>"No, I'm fine," Jake objected.  
>"Jake, you need your energy for the rest of our quest. Go to sleep," I insisted. He looked at me for a moment before he nodded and headed back below deck. I tuned all the noise out and looked onto the ocean. After about twenty minutes Travis and Mell went below deck, followed soon by Conner and Nico. That just left me and Sarina.<br>"Go to sleep Raine," Sarina suddenly said.  
>"What?" I asked.<br>"Go to sleep," Sarina said again.  
>"Why?"<br>"You look terrible."  
>"Hey!" I protested hotly.<br>"Seriously Raine, you look worse than Jake," Sarina sighed.  
>"That bad?" I joked.<br>"Worse," Sarina said seriously. "Go to sleep."  
>"Stuff you," I said before Sarina smiled at me. I slowly walked below deck, where I saw the rest of the gang sleeping. Lyra was in the closest hammock, with her hands balled into fists and her bottom lip trembling. I wondered what she was dreaming about. Jacob was in the hammock next to her, with an expression on his face that said he was in pain. Conner and Travis were next, in seperate hammocks, but both slightly drooling and Conner was slightly snoring. They kept twitching. Nico was the quietist out of all of them. He was completely still, with only his chest moving up and down to show he was still alive. Mell was also sleeping, though very badly. She kept tossing and turning, and muttering something unintelligable. I frowned and moved to the next hammock. Everyone here seemed to be distressed or something, except maybe Nico, but that was different. I found a bunk next to Mell, and swung on it. I wasn't really planning on sleeping, so I just listened to everyone breathing and the waves crashing against the wood.<br>I don't know how long I just stared up at the ceiling, but soon, Sarina came down with a bewildered, stressed and shocked expression on her face. I sat up quickly.  
>"What is it, Sarina?" I asked.<br>"W-we're here," she whispered. 


	19. Chapter 19

RAINE'S POV

After we woke everybody up from their uncomfortable slumber, we all quickly scurried up to the top deck. Sarina was indeed right. About fifty meters in front of us was a huge cliff. We gaped at it and looked up at the peak. There seemed to be a cave there.  
>"That's where we're headed," Nico spoke up, pointing to the cave. I gulped.<br>"Guys…" I heard Travis say from behind us. We all spun. He pointed to the water. We all rushed to the side of the ship.  
>CRACK!<br>Bits of the ship were falling apart. Planks were being ripped off and pulled away from us in the current. Jacob turned around and ran below deck. In about five seconds he was back up with our packs. His jeans were dripping wet up to his knees.  
>"We have to abandon ship!" he cried. I looked back over the side. Water was rushing into the ship, and soon, we'd be going under. Not only was our boat sinking, but it was also being pulled into a whirlpool. Yep, a real one. And not just any whirlpool, this whirlpool was MASSIVE!<br>"We have to get out right now!" Mell shouted, emphasising 'now'.  
>"No way am I jumping in the water, I'm already sea sick as it is!" Lyra exclaimed.<br>"You have to trust me!" Sarina said. Lyra grumbled a bit, and was a little hesitant. But that's when we all heard the big CRACK! The ship was getting pulled apart by the minute.  
>"NOW!" Sarina screamed and together, we all jumped into the churning sea.<br>I burst out of the water, but the current was too strong for me.  
>"Sarina!" I screamed, but I choked on sea water along the way. Suddenly, I felt something pull me. When I looked around, I saw nothing. That's about when I realized it was the ocean itself. I let the weird current drag me away from the whirlpool and onto the rocky cliff side.<br>"Didn't think I'd let you die now, did you?" I heard Sarina smile from over me, but her voice sounded strained. I looked around and saw that everyone else was already on the rocky wayside. I got up off the ground and stood tall.  
>"Let's move," Nico said darkly. We kept one hand on the side of the cliff for reassurance as we slowly, but steadily, gained altitude. I heard Sarina's breath hitch as we got higher and higher.<br>In a matter of seconds, we were standing in front of the massive cave. Lyra was about to step in, but I stopped her.  
>"Wait," I whispered.<br>"What's wrong?" Mell asked.  
>"We don't know what the box even looks like, or what's inside, right?" I said.<br>"Right," the Stoll brothers dragged the word.  
>"We have to make a plan. Isn't that what you do? When you prank?" I turned to the Stoll's.<br>"Erm, sometimes. Usually we just… improvise," Conner said sheepishly.  
>"Your vocabulary has grown! I am so proud of you!" Sarina directed to Conner. Conner grinned in her direction.<br>"You would know," he sent a flirty grin to Sarina.  
>"Anyway, I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that," Sarina muttered.<br>"Why would you do that? It would make people think that you are seemingly deaf," Travis said. Lyra, Nico, Jake and Mell stiffled laughs while Sarina and I glared at the Stoll's.  
>"As I was saying, we need a plan. The myths say that there is a monster living in this cave. We'll have to sneak around it," I explained.<br>"How when we can't even see?" Lyra asked.  
>"Ahem," Jacob cleared his throat. He peeped in his pack and brought out some flashlights. "I believe that's where I come in."<br>"Thanks," I said as he handed me a flashlight. I switched it on. "I'll grab the box."  
>"Right," Sarina's voice was shaky. We skirmished along the edge of the cave and flashed our flashlights in. The walls were crumbling rock and the floor was uneven and sharp. We slowly walked inside. Nico was the only one who seemed confident here. Our footsteps had to be light, or the floor would crumble out from beneath us. Somebody slipped and a groaning sound came from the floor and wall. We all kept deathly still, not even breathing. After the groaning stopped, Lyra took in a deep breath.<br>"Let's move," she whispered. We started walking again, even more cautiously then before.  
>After about ten minutes, we had finally found something. The box. Only ten meters in front of us. When Chiron said 'box', we expected some type of cardboard thing. But no, this box was about as big as a car, but low enough to look in. This box was made of some kind of metal, solid, bronze and gleaming.<br>"Sarina? Grab the box," I said carefully and Sarina nodded and went to the box, careful to be cautious. Suddenly, there was a grumbling sound. This wasn't the usual I'm-annoyed-so-leave-me-alone, this was like YOU-DISTURBED-MY-SLUMBER-AND-THEREFORE-DESERVE-TO-HAVE-YOUR-HEAD-RIPPED-OFF. Yeah, scary right? Sarina quickly ran up to the box, but when she peered inside, she stopped abruptly. She just stared inside in shock and confusion.  
>"Sarina! Now!" I cried, scared for our lives. All Sarina did was stare. Mell groaned and ran over to Sarina, but she too stopped when she saw what was in the box.<br>"I swear you guys are hopeless!" I grumbled and ran over to them. What I saw in the box really scared, confused and shocked me. Because inside the box was a crib, and inside that crib was a baby girl.


	20. Chapter 20

MELL'S POV

What the Hades was a baby doing in a box? Raine ran up to and stopped when she saw the baby. She gasped and quickly grabbed the baby out of the crib. It immediately awoke. It was too dark to see what the baby looked like.  
>All of a sudden, there was a bone-rattling, eardrum-shattering, dream-crushing roar.<br>"Let's go NOW!" Lyra shouted over to us. Sarina was the first to recover from her daze and ran back to the others, forgetting all caution. I ran after, followed by Raine and the baby. Together, the eight of us plus one sprinted as fast as we could to the entrance of the cave.  
>When we got out of the darkness, Jacob suddenly stopped. We all looked at him. He stared down at his leg, along with the rest of us. Wrapping around his ankle was a slimy, green tenticle-like arm. Suddenly, the tenticle jerked backwards and Jacob was pulled back into the dark cave, screaming and thrashing. The Stolls were next, then Lyra and Nico. All of them screaming and thrashing. No sooner had Nico been pulled away, Sarina and I were pulled also. I screamed my head off as I was pulled into the inky blackness of the cave. I distantly heard Sarina screaming, but what actually scared me was that I couldn't hear Nico or the others. Suddenly, I stopped being dragged. Instead, something was wrapping tightly around my neck. I heard struggling from next to me. I looked to my right and saw Sarina also struggling against a slimy reptilian rope wrapping around her neck. On my left, Lyra was the same, as was Jake next to her. Ahead of me, Nico wasn't putting up a fight at all. He just let the rope wrap around his neck. I was angry for him. Why wasn't he fighting? But then again, knowing Nico, he was probably planning something out. Then I saw the Stolls. The slimy arm was wrapped around their ankles and was hanging them both upside down. I would have laughed if it wasn't for the current situation. Suddenly, we heard running footsteps coming towards us. It must be Raine. I lifted my eyes to see her standing there, looking angry, confused, shocked and scared. She also had the baby clutching onto her back.<br>"PUT MY FRIENDS DOWN!" Raine yelled towards even further blackness. There was a deep rumbling sound coming from behind us. It must have been a cold laugh. I couldn't much see its face, but by the horrified look on Raine's, I knew it must be a gruesome creature. She took a deep breath.  
>"Put. My. Friends. Down," she growled once more. Another rumbling. Suddenly the moster started… talking? Though, it didn't sound like English or Greek. It was like a hissing sound, with clicking and growling at the same time. Raine straightened up and her face went blank, as if she could understand it.<br>"So," the monster said, speaking English. It's voice was raspy and harsh. "Give me the child or watch your friends die."  
>"Don't listen to it Raine!" Lyra gasped through her bonds. Raine's head snapped to her direction. She looked scared, confused and disgusted. But most of all, she looked dangerous. She brought a spear out of nowhere. Another rumbling laugh.<br>"You think you can fight me?" the monster cackled. What surprised me was that Raine smiled.  
>"I'm getting really dizzy!" Travis said. I looked over and saw that his face was turning purple, as was Conner's.<br>"Unlike you," Raine told the monster, "I stick by my friends and don't let them get hurt."  
>And with that, Raine brought back her arm and hurled her spear at the beast. There was a surprised roar from behind us, and the slimy reptilian arms let go of us. I fell to the ground on my feet, Sarina with bent knees, Lyra in a position that looked like she was about to attack, Nico standing, Jacob in a heap, and the Stolls on their heads.<br>"RUN!" Raine cried. We did exactly that. We all sprinted towards her and out of the big chamber. The walls started crumbling around us, with rocks falling down from the ceiling. We ran faster. The monster was really angry and was chasing after us. Travis reached into his pocket and brought out some type of pod. He chucked it behind us.  
>"RUN FASTER!" Conner screamed as we reached the cave's opening. When we finally got outside, there was no time to marvel at the storm brewing above us. We flung ourselves off the cliff and dived into the churning ocean below. I blacked out to the sound of explosions from above us.<p> 


	21. Chapter 21

LYRA'S POV

Everything was so dark around me. The blackness was threatening to crush me. At first I thought it was Mell's doing, but realized that this was not night. This was stronger, more powerful. This was death. I struggled against it, my will to live was increasing with every minute of straining. I felt like I was holding up the sky. I pushed against the blackness forcing myself to stay alive.  
>I thought of my friends. I thought of my life. I thought of my mother.<br>That motivated me the most. I pushed and shoved and finally broke through.

I gasped as I opened my eyes. My forehead was beaded with sweat and I was breathing in shallow and heavily. Above me stood a boy that could hardly pass as a man. He looked about seventeen, with dark hair and baby blue eyes. They were worried and kind at the same time.  
>"Decided to join us, have you?" he asked in a kind voice.<br>"Join who?" I asked stupidly. The boy just laughed.  
>"I'm Apollo, by the way. You know, the god?" the boy smiled a dazzling smile.<br>"Lord Apollo," I nodded my head, as I was unable to bow properly.  
>"No need for 'Lord'," Apollo waved it off. "You are my half-sister after all!"<br>"Oh," I said. "Where is everyone else?"  
>"I'm here," I heard from the door. Sarina stood there, leaning against the doorframe. She tried her best to act casual, but her voice was strained with worry. "Everybody else is waiting for you in the throne room," Sarina continued. I sighed in relief.<br>"Come on, sweetheart, up you get," Apollo lifted me off the bed and placed me on my feet. Wait, foot. My other foot was covered in plaster.  
>"Umm… what happened?" I asked as Apollo handed me crutches.<br>"You just broke your leg. We weren't able to get to it in time, so you're going to have to keep the plaster for a while. It's okay, just take some ambrosia every morning for a week, and you should be all healed up!" Apollo exclaimed brightly. I nodded.  
>"Wow, I must look horrible," I grumbled.<br>"You look better than you did, trust me when I tell you that," Sarina let out a half-hearted laugh.  
>"Is everyone else okay?" I asked.<br>"Yeah, Mell just dislocated her left wrist, Travis had minor concussion, and Jake broke a rib," Sarina shrugged. "But they're all better now!"  
>"Am I the last to wake up?" I asked.<br>"Yeah," Apollo nodded. I sighed.  
>"Let's go then," I brought myself over to Sarina with the crutches.<br>"Actually, I just have to go attend to a few other patients, so I'll be with you shortly," Apollo smiled, and disappeared.  
>"Oh well, just us and everybody else!" I smiled to Sarina, who grinned back.<br>"Come on, Lyra. Everybody's waiting," Sarina said.  
>"To the throne room!" I said in mock superiorty and marched—limped—in the direction I thought was the throne room.<br>"Um, Lyra?" Sarina giggled. I immediately swung around and walked the opposite direction. Sarina shook her head and fell in step with me. She didn't mind walking at my slow pace—we were in no rush to get anywhere. Sort of.  
>When Sarina finally located the throne room, she pushed open the doors with a big shove. I didn't even have time to look inside because I was attacked by an evil killer dust bunny on steroids. Oh, it's just Raine.<br>"LYRA! Oh my gods, you're okay!" she exclaimed. She proceeded in hugging me.  
>"Uh, Raine? Firstly, the others want a turn, and secondly, I need to breath," I choked. Raine immediately let go of me and I nearly tumbled onto the floor. Mell hesitantly hugged me, the Stolls basically played stacks on, Jacob gave me a civilised hug, though he was slow and looked like he was in pain, and even Nico gave me a little side-hug-thing.<br>"At least we all lived!" I said happily. Everyone laughed in relief.  
>Suddenly, there was some kind of power surge in the room and a really bright flash of multicolored light. By the time I cleared the spots dancing in my eyes, the gods had appeared in the room. Everyone knelt, except me because of my, er, condition. I bowed my head.<br>"Arise children," Dad bellowed. Talk about embarrassing. The others hastily stood up.  
>"You have served us well. Your quest has been successful," Zeus said happily. "Congratulations."<br>"Thank you," I sighed in relief. Dad gave me a small smile.  
>"Everything is being taken care of. You may go back and celebrate at your camp now," Poseidon added. Everything is taken care of? What happened to—<br>"What about the baby? Where is she?" Sarina voiced my thoughts. Zeus shifted uncomfortably.  
>"The child is being taken care of, don't worry about it," he said hastily.<br>"Where is she! We have the right to know!" Raine said angrily. Dad hesitated.  
>"She cannot live, she must be destroyed before she destroys us all," Zeus sighed. That flared up my anger.<br>"NO!" I exclaimed. Half the gods jumped in surprise. "You can't do that!"  
>"We can, we must and we will," Zeus said. "Lyra, we have no choice."<br>"No choice! No choice! Everyone has a choice!" I shouted.  
>"It has to be done!" Zeus boomed.<br>"Will you be happy with the murder of an innocent child? With the blood on your hands? Or will you make somebody else do the dirty work for you?" I seethed.  
>"Lyra—" my father tried to reason.<br>"No, Father! You're a coward! You don't care about killing somebody, even a baby!" I screamed at him. I'd never lost my temper like this.  
>"It is one life for many! Silence child!" my father boomed. I immediately regretted what I was about to say.<p> 


	22. Chapter 22

SARINA'S POV

I watched as Lyra had her outburst with her dad, screaming at him with tears streaming down her face.  
>"I-I hate you! I wish you were never my father!" Lyra shouted to Zeus. My breath caught in my throat as Zeus went from shocked to angry.<br>"You dare—" he started.  
>"Brother, please," Poseidon reasoned. "She has gone through a lot. I think we should weigh our options."<br>"You agree with her! This is madness Poseidon!" Zeus raged.  
>"Father, for once I agree with old Barnacle Beard," Athena spoke up quietly.<br>"As do I," Aphrodite claimed. One by one, some of the other gods agreed.  
>"Fine! We will discuss this!" Zeus said angrily. They had a conversation in Ancient Greek that was so low, it was a murmur. I heard the others straining to hear. Finally they stopped.<br>"We have decided," Zeus grumbled. "The child will not be harmed."  
>"Yes!" we cheered.<br>"But," Zeus continued. I held my breath. "The child's memory will be tampered with and it must NEVER find out who it really is."  
>"Where will she live?" Conner asked curiously.<br>"She will remain at Camp Half-Blood," Zeus said.  
>"But not in the Big House right?" Jake asked. Zeus looked at him quizzically.<br>"The Big House will arouse suspicion," Nico explained. "The one thing we don't need."  
>"True. She will stay with you for now, sleep in each one of the girls's cabins," Zeus decided.<br>"Wait," Lyra held up a hand. We turned our attention to her. She looked around at each one of the gods. "She must be claimed by one of you."  
>"Why!" Zeus complained.<br>"Don't you think," Lyra explained, "that if she doesn't ever get claimed she will be suspicious of her parentage. She'll go exploring."  
>"I never considered that," Zeus said. Lyra muttered something I didn't hear.<br>"Who wishes to take the child in?" Zeus asked.  
>Nobody raised their hand. I looked around at them with disapproval.<br>"Cowards," Mell muttered next to me.  
>"Somebody HAS to take her," Jake sighed. "Unless you all want to die."<br>"I have an idea," Athena said. Poseidon groaned. Athena glared at him before continuing, "Let us see what the child looks like and decide from there."  
>"Bring in the child!" Zeus boomed. A lady rushed into the room carrying a bundle. She held up the child to Zeus. I saw her properly for the first time. She had curly auburn hair and silver-like eyes. Her face was heart shaped and small. My eyes travelled over the Olympians and Hades and rested on Artemis. Everyone else seemed to think that too because their heads slowly turned to her.<br>"I am NOT going to have that child in my cabin," Artemis huffed.  
>"Artie—" Apollo started.<br>"Don't you 'Artie' me, Apollo!" Artemis snapped. "Someone else can take her."  
>"Which other god or goddess has different colored eyes?" Poseidon asked. His eyes rested on Athena, who sighed.<br>"Use your excuse for a brain Barnacle Beard. The child looks nothing like my children," Athena said.  
>"Perhaps we could say your imagination ran wild?" Poseidon shot back. Apollo, Hermes, Hades and Ares snickered.<br>"Shut it," Athena snapped. Poseidon smiled happily.  
>"Who else?" I asked.<br>"Hecate," Hera spoke up. She was looking at Lyra disapprovingly.  
>"Hecate? The magic lady?" Conner and Travis asked.<br>"Yes. We can say her eyes 'magically' changed into this color," Zeus said slowly. I considered it.  
>"It is decided," Zeus said. Thunder crackled in the sky. Poseidon and Hades rolled their eyes.<br>"You kids can get back to camp now, your work here is done," Poseidon smiled warmly at us. "And take the child."  
>We bowed awkwardly and rushed towards the child. I gingerly picked her up. She was so light.<br>"One second," Zeus said. "I need to have a word with Lyra."  
>We looked at Lyra, who held her head high and avoided our gaze. I looked towards everyone else and nodded. Together, we walked out of the throne room.<p> 


	23. Chapter 23

RAINE'S POV

As we waited for Lyra, I grew more and more restless. Everyone was straining their ears and shifting their weight uncomfortably.  
>Finally, Lyra stepped out of the throne room. She was flushed and she had a huge smile on her face.<br>"Lyra?" Jake asked. "What happened?"  
>"Mom's back!" she exclaimed joyfully. Our eyes widened. We all knew that Lyra's mom had disappeared, but for her to be back so suddenly? Where was she?<br>We all gave her skeptical looks.  
>"No really!" she said. "Look!"<br>She brandished a newspaper in our faces. It took me a few minutes to read, but I got the main idea:  
>SABRINA JETT FOUND AT LAST<br>On Friday, 17th of June, the infamous actress, Sabrina Jett, disappeared without a trace, leaving only her house. Her daughter, Lyra Jett, was also reported missing at the scene. Police have searched the country looking for the actress and her daughter, and happened to come across a man in Ohio who knew of her location.  
>Police won't give us any more information on the investigation, but only saying that Sabrina is alive and well.<br>"My daughter is also safe," Jett says, "but is unfortunately unable to make it here tonight."  
>See page 2 for more details<p>

That was all I needed I needed to read before I hugged Lyra tightly.  
>"See? Everything is alright now," I smiled. She had tears of joy in her eyes as she nodded. Some of the others read the article with difficulty. We all smiled at her and that was that.<p>

After all the happiness came awkwardness. We piled into the elevator together and stood in silence. Finally, Lyra broke it.  
>"Well," she said awkwardly. "We're still alive!" she said trying to lighten the mood.<br>"You barely," Nico smiled half-heartedly. "It's about time somebody told him that." Lyra shrugged, "AND WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THIS DAMN MUSIC!" she said angrily.  
>We went quiet and listened to a few words of "Stayin' Alive" before everybody groaned.<br>"For once, Sparky, I actually agree with you," Mell confessed.  
>"I'm pretty sure everyone would agree with her," Travis grabbed his ears. We laughed. After about twenty seconds, we were out of the elevator. We trailed out and Sarina hailed a cab. We piled in.<br>"Umm…" the driver started.  
>"Don't worry dude, you'll get a tip," Conner held out fifty bucks. The driver drove without another word.<br>"What are we going to name her?" I asked suddenly. Everyone turned to look at the baby girl now asleep in Sarina's arms.  
>"She looks like a…" Jacob trailed off.<br>"Human," Conner joked. Travis smacked him on the upside of the head. "I was joking!"  
>"She looks like an Amelia. Amelia Parish," Lyra said quietly. I quickly agreed, as with everyone else.<br>"Little Amelia," Sarina crooned rocking the baby back and forth.

When we finally arrived at Camp Half-Blood, dusk was already falling. The baby had fallen asleep and the taxi dropped us off at the bottom of the hill. Conner silently paid the driver, who quickly sped off. We turned towards the hill, and were surprised to see Mr. D standing there, waiting for us.  
>"It's about time," he huffed. We nodded.<br>"The child," Mr. D held out his arms. Sarina hugged Amelia closer to her.  
>"I won't hurt her," Dionysus sighed. "I need to wipe her memory."<br>She gulped and handed Amelia gingerly to him.  
>"This might take a while," Dionysus said. "Meaning: this will take about three days."<br>We all nodded stiffly.  
>"Inside," Mr. D sighed. "Quickly."<br>We hurried (except Lyra) past the borders and out of Mr. D's sight.  
>"What now?" Travis asked.<br>"I guess we sit and wait for this to play out," Nico said.  
>"You've been playing too much poker," Mell mumbled. We laughed a little.<br>"What will happen to Amelia?" Sarina asked.  
>"Trust the gods?" Jake suggested. Lyra and Nico both snorted.<br>"Goodnight, I guess," Conner said uncomfortably.  
>"Yeah, 'night guys," Mell smiled ruefully. After our goodbye's, we all slumped back to our cabins as quietly as possible.<p> 


	24. Chapter 24

SARINA'S POV

When I woke up in the morning, I was stiff and hurting in every muscle in my body. I stretched a bit and sat up. I was surprised to see the Poseidon cabin empty. Percy usually sleeps in and I have to jump on him to wake up. I shrugged and pulled on some jeans and a plain blue t-shirt before heading out. The camp was unusually quiet and still. I couldn't see anyone anywhere. It was kind of creepy. The weird thing was, I saw Lyra, Raine, Mell, Nico, Jacob and the Stolls all outside their own cabins looking confused.  
>"Umm… what's—?" Conner started.<br>"Going on?" Travis finished. Lyra and Nico shrugged innocently.  
>"I don't know, but I'm STARVING!" Jacob complained. We laughed. It felt good to laugh again.<br>"Let's go to the dining pavilion," Raine said. We agreed and followed her through the empty camp and into the pavilion.

"SURPRISE!" was our loud greeting. We were crowded by massive numbers of friends and some randoms hugging and cheering. I laughed and hugged back.  
>We had breakfast (which, by the way, was very unhealthy) and moved the celebration to the beach. We danced and sang while the music blared (curtesy of the Apollo cabin).<br>It soon darkened until Chiron allowed everyone who went on the quest to have a campfire on the beach with loved ones.  
>I was having a great time until Conner asked me to sit next to him on the sand away from everyone else.<br>"So, you having fun?" he asked, the flames reflecting in his eyes and casting shadows under is cheekbones.  
>"Yeah, this is awesome!" I exclaimed. He laughed and ran a hand through his unruly brown hair, like when he does when he's nervous.<br>"Are you relieved?" he inquired.  
>"Yes and no. Yes because I'm back here safe at last, and no because I miss the freedom," I sighed. I let the sand run through my fingers.<br>"Do you find me… annoying?" he asked in a small voice.  
>"Well, yeah," I rolled my eyes.<br>"No, I mean, would you… not mind being my friend?" Conner rephrased.  
>"Sure, that'd be cool," I shrugged. He sighed in relief and smiled.<br>"Do you trust me?" he asked. I eyed him suspiciously.  
>"I guess the quest helped a lot," I nodded.<br>"Do you trust me?" he asked again.  
>"Didn't I just—?"<br>"Answer," he said in a monotone voice. "In one word."  
>"Yes," I said.<br>"If I died, would you be upset?" Conner closed his eyes. That sounded cheesy.  
>"I'd cry if—" I started.<br>"One word answers!" Conner exclaimed.  
>"S-sure," I nodded. He looked at me with curious eyes, before closing them again.<br>"Do you like me?" he asked. I gulped, but I knew that there was no escaping the truth. I couldn't talk. Conner opened one eye to peer at me. All I could do was nod. He opened up his other eye. They were shining with… happiness? Before I knew it, we were both slowly leaning in. My breath caught in my throat. He slowly put his lips against mine, hesitantly even. It was electricity, it was fire, it was everything. Suddenly all that mattered in the world was that this boy in front of me was kissing me.  
>Very slowly, I kissed back.<p> 


	25. THE LAST CHAPTER

LYRA'S POV

Raine, Mell and I decided to sneak after Sarina and Conner and spy on them. Conner was asking some really weird questions, and Sarina hesitantly answered them. I don't think they noticed that they were slowly moving closer to eachother. We were quite bored until Conner finally asked a proper question.  
>"Do you like me?" he asked quietly. Sarina looked stunned, shocked even, that the questions were leading to this. Conner looked at her hesitantly. Sarina just nodded. Conner smiled and leaned in and kissed her slowly. Sarina was shocked for a second before she kissed back. Her hands moved up into his hair as she deepened the kiss.<br>Suddenly, someone cleared their throat next to us. Percy was looking shocked and angry. Hell no! I can't let my stupid cousin ruin everything! I quickly sprang up and tackled him into the sand. I pinned his hands behind his back and covered his mouth.  
>"Percy, for once, leave your bloody sister alone!" I whispered in his ear. He struggled to get free, but my knee was holding him down. Travis joined me.<br>"She's right, dude. Conner's never wanted anything so bad until the LX-30 water gun came out when we were seven," Travis sighed. Percy glared at him.  
>"Just leave them be, or I'll get Annabeth down here," I smiled. Percy looked horrified, but then gave in.<br>"Fine," his voice was muffled under my hand. I slowly let go of him. We eyed Conner and Sarina, who went on oblivious.  
>"Finally," Travis smiled at them, then moved off, probably to find Katie. Percy sighed and looked at me.<br>"You know I'll tell you if things get out of hand," I sighed. He raised an eyebrow, but stood up and brushed the sand of his shirt and jeans.  
>"Be sure of it," he said and went to find Annabeth.<br>"Nice going," Raine smiled and sat next to me. "Do you think we should break them up?"  
>Mell and I looked at eachother.<br>"Nah!" we said at the same time and stood. We left Conner and Sarina with their own privacy.

The next day was awesome! Unfortunately, we still had activities, but they were a breeze. Conner and Sarina didn't leave eachother at all, and every time Mell, Raine and I saw them, they were either snogging or holding hands. I've never seen Sarina happier, or Conner for that matter.  
>Dinner was alright, everything was a little more civilized then breakfast, though. By the time I was going back to Cabin 1, I was exhausted.<br>While I was lying awake in my bed, my thoughts trailed away to Amelia. I knew that if I was her, I'd hate my life—not knowing who I really was or who my family was. I really felt sorry for her.

Chiron told me that I was allowed to visit my mom again tomorrow, and that's what kept me going. I now know that the phrase, "you only know what you have until it's gone", is completely true. I'll never be so happy to see my mom after tomorrow.  
>I felt my eyes drooping close, and for the first time in weeks, I fell into a dreamless slumber.<p>

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